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PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS 

WITH  ESPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE 

Antipathic  Sexual  Instinct 

A  MEDICO-FORENSIC  STUDY 


BY 

Dr.  R.  v.  KRAFFT-EBING 

O.  O,  Prof,  fiir  Psychiatric  und  Nervenkrankheiten  an  der  K.  K. 
Universitat  Wien 

ONLY  AUTHORIZED  ENGLISH  ADAPTATION  OF  THE 
TWELFTH  GERMAN  EDITION 

BY  F.  J.  REBMAN 


REVISED  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS  BOOK  COMPANY 

353  WEST  59th  STREET 


Copyright,  1906 
Copyright,  1922 

OWNED  BY 

Physicians  and  Surgeons  Book  Co, 


PRINTED  IN  U.  S.  A. 


PEEFACE  TO  THE  EIEST  EDITION. 


Few  people  are  conscious  of  the  deep  influence  exerted  by 
sexual  life  upon  the  sentiment,  thought  and  action  of 
man  in  his  social  relations  to  others.  Schiller^  in  his 
essay  ^^Die  Weltweisen/'  touches  upon  this  subject  in  these 
memorable  words :  ^^So  long  as  philosophy  keeps  together 
the  structure  of  the  Universe  so  long  does  it  maintain 
the  world's  machinery  by  hunger  and  love". 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  philosopher  sexual  life 
takes  a  subordinate  position. 

Schopenhauer  ("Die  Welt  als  Wille  und  Vorstellung," 
third  edition,  vol.  ii.,  p.  586,  etc.)  considers  it  peculiar 
that  love  has  hitherto  offered  material  to  the  poet  only 
and  not  also  to  the  philosopher,  the  scant  researches  by 
Plato^  Rousseau  and  Kant  always  excepted. 

Whatever  Schopenhauer,  and  after  him  E.  von  Hart- 
mann,  the  philosopher  of  the  unknown,  discuss  about 
sexual  relationship,  is  so  thoroughly  incorrect  and  illogical 
that,  so  far  as  science  is  concerned,  empirical  psychology 
and  the  metaphysics  of  man's  sexual  existence  are  simply 
virgin  soil.  Michelefs  ^X'amour"  and  Mantegazza's 
^Thysiology  of  Love"  are  merely  clever  causeries,  and 
cannot  be  considered  in  the  light  of  scientific  research. 

The  poet  is  the  better  psychologist,  for  he  is  swayed 
rather  by  sentiment  than  by  reason,  and  always  treats  his 
subject  in  a  partial  fashion.  He  cannot  discern  deep 
shadows,  because  he  is  dazed  by  the  blazing  light  and 
overcome  by  the  benign  heat  of  the  subject.  Although 


vi  PBEFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION, 

the  ^^Physiology  of  Love^'  provides  inexhaustible  material 
for  the  poetry  of  all  ages  and  of  all  peoples,  nevertheless 
the  poet  will  not  discharge  his  arduous  task  adequately 
without  the  active  co-operation  of  natural  philosophy  and, 
above  all,  that  of  medicine,  a  science  which  ever  seeks  to 
trace  all  psychological  manifestations  to  their  anatomical 
and  physiological  sources. 

In  these  efforts  medicine  succeeds,  perhaps,  in  forming 
a  connection  between  the  pessimistic  reflections  of  the 
philosopher  of  the  stamp  of  Schopenhauer  and  Hartmann^ 
and  the  gay  and  naive  creations  of  the  poet. 

It  is  not  intended  to  build  up  in  this  book  a  system  of 
the  psychology  of  sexual  life,  still  from  the  close  study  of 
psychopathology  there  arise  most  important  psychological 
facts  which  it  behoves  the  scientist  to  notice. 

The  object  of  this  treatise  is  merely  to  record  the 
various  psychopathological  manifestations  of  sexual  life  in 
man  and  to  reduce  them  to  their  lawful  conditions.  This 
task  is  by  no  means  an  easy  one,  and  the  author  is  well 
aware  of  the  fact  that,  despite  his  (varied)  far-reaching 
experience  in  psychiatry  and  criminal  medicine,  he  is  yet 
unable  to  offer  anything  but  an  imperf ected  system. 

The  importance  of  the  subject,  however,  demands 
scientific  research  on  account  of  its  forensic  bearing  and 
its  deep  influence  upon  the  common  weal.  The  medical 
barrister  only  then  finds  out  how  sad  the  lack  of  our 
knowledge  is  in  the  domain  of  sexuality  when  he  is  called 
upon  to  express  an  opinion  as  to  the  responsibility  of  the 
accused  whose  life,  liberty  and  honour  are  at  stake.  He 
then  begins  to  appreciate  the  efforts  that  have  been  made 
to  bring  light  into  darkness. 

^Hartmann^s  philosophical  conception  of  love  ("Philosophy  of 
the  Unknown,"  Berlin,  1869,  p.  583)  is:  "  Love  causes  more  pain  than 
pleasure.  Pleasure  is  only  an  illusion.  Reason  would  demand  the 
avoidance  of  love  were  it  not  for  that  fatal  sexual  instinct.  Hence  it 
would  be  better  to  be  castrated."  Schopenhauer  expresses  the  same 
view  in  his  work:  "Die  Welt  als  Wille  und  Vorstellung,"  third 
edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  586,  etc. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  vii 

Certain  it  is  that  so  far  as  sexual  crimes  are  concerned 
erroneous  ideas  prevail,  unjust  decisions  are  given,  and 
the  law  as  well  as  public  opinion  are  prima  facie  prejudiced 
against  the  offender. 

The  scientific  study  of  the  psychopathology  of  sexual 
life  necessarily  deals  with  the  miseries  of  man  and  the 
dark  sides  of  his  existence,  the  shadow  of  which  contorts 
the  sublime  image  of  the  deity  into  horrid  caricatures,  and 
leads  astray  sestheticism  and  morality. 

It  is  the  sad  privilege  of  medicine,  and  especially  that 
of  psychiatry,  to  ever  witness  the  weaknesses  of  human 
nature  and  the  reverse  side  of  life. 

The  physician  finds,  perhaps,  a  (satisfaction)  solace  in 
the  fact  that  he  may  at  times  refer  those  manifestations 
which  offend  against  our  ethical  or  sesthetical  principles 
to  a  diseased  condition  of  the  mind  or  the  body.  He  can 
save  the  honour  of  humanity  in  the  forum  of  morality, 
and  the  honour  of  the  individual  before  the  judge  and  his 
fellow-men.  It  is  from  the  search  of  truth  that  the  exalted 
duties  and  rights  of  medical  science  emanate. 

The  author  adopts  the  saying  of  Tardieu  ("Des  at- 
tentats aux  moeurs") :  ^^Aucune  misere  physique  ou 
morale,  aucune  plaie,  quelque  corrompue  qu'elle  soit,  ne 
doit  effrayer  celui  qui  s'est  voue  a  la  science  de  Thomme,  et 
le  ministere  sacre  du  medecin,  en  I'obligeant  a  tout  voir, 
lui  permet  aussi  de  tout  dire". 

He  appeals  to  men  engaged  in  serious  study  in  the 
domains  of  natural  philosophy  and  medical  jurisprudence. 

A  scientific  title  has  been  chosen,  and  technical  terms 
are  used  throughout  the  book  in  order  to  exclude  the  lay 
reader.  For  the  same  reason  certain  portions  are  written 
in  Latin. 


viii 


PREFACE  TO  THE  TWELFTH  EDITION. 

This  edition  is  entirely  rewritten  and  considerably 
enlarged.  The  (exceptionally)  favourable  criticisms  which 
have  been  accorded  in  professional  circles  to  former  edi- 
tions are  a  guarantee  that  the  book  exercises  a  beneficent 
influence  upon  legislation  and  jurisprudence,  and  will  as- 
sist in  removing  erroneous  ideas  and  superannuated  laws. 

Its  commercial  success  is  the  best  proof  that  large 
numbers  of  unfortunate  people  find  in  its  pages  instruction 
and  relief  in  the  frequently  enigmatical  manifestations  of 
sexual  life.  The  hosts  of  letters  that  have  reached  the 
author  from  all  parts  of  the  world  substantiate  this  as- 
sumption. Compassion  and  sympathy  are  strongly  elicited 
by  the  perusal  of  these  letters,  which  are  written  chiefly 
by  men  of  refined  thought  and  of  high  social  and  scientific 
standing.  They  reveal  sufferings  of  the  soul  in  compari- 
son to  which  all  the  other  afflictions  dealt  out  by  Fate 
appear  as  trifles. 

May  it  continue  to  convey  solace  and  social  elevation 
to  its  readers. 

The  number  of  technical  terms  has  been  increased, 
and  the  Latin  language  is  more  frequently  made  use  of 
than  in  former  editions. 

May  the  same  kind  reception  be  accorded  to  this 
edition  which  was  enjoyed  by  its  predecessors.  That  it 
may  prove  of  utility  in  the  service  of  science,  justice  and 
humanity  is  the  wish  of  the 

AUTHOR 

Geaz. 


PUBLISHERS'  PREFACE 


The  publishers  sincerely  trust  that  this  revised  translation 
from  the  Twelfth  German  Edition  of  Psychopathia  Sex- 
ualis  by  Dr.  R.  v.  Krafft-Ebing  will  be  received  with  favour 
by  those  for  whom  the  book  is  written,  and  that  its  readers 
will  derive  that  benefit  which  the  author  had  in  view. 

Preparing  and  sifting  the  material  for  the  Twelfth 
Edition  of  this  work  was  the  final  task  of  the  late  author. 
"When  he  was  attacked  by  the  fatal  illness  which  carried 
him  off,  the  manuscript  was  all  ready  for  the  printer. 

Dr.  Gugl  and  Dr.  Stichl,  pupils  and  for  many  years 
collaborators  of  the  author,  were  entrusted  by  the  family 
of  the  deceased  with  the  revision  of  the  proofs. 

The  sale  of  the  book  is  rigidly  restricted  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  medical  and  legal  professions. 

THE  PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTS 


I.  FRAGMENTS  OF  A  SYSTEM  OP  PSYCHOLOGY  OF 

SEXUAL  LIFE   i 

Force  of  sexual  instinct,  1 — Sexual  instinct  the  basis  of 
ethical  sentiments,  2 — ^Love  as  a  passion,  2 — Historical 
development  of  sexual  life,  3 — Chastity,  3 — Christianity, 
3 — ^Monogamy,  4 — Position  of  woman  in  Islam,  5 — Sen- 
suality and  morality,  5 — Cultural  demoralisation  of 
sexual  life,  5 — Episodes  of  the  moral  decay  of  nations,  6 
— ^Development  of  sexual  desire;  puberty,  7 — Sensuality 
and  religious  fanaticism,  7 — Relation  between  religious 
and  sexual  domains,  8 — Sensuality  and  art,  11 — Ideal- 
isation of  first  love,  12 — True  love,  12 — Sentimentality, 
12 — Platonic  love,  13 — Love  and  Friendship,  13 — Differ- 
ence between  the  love  of  the  man  and  that  of  the  woman, 
14 — Celibacy,  15 — Adultery,  15 — Matrimony,  16 — Fond- 
ness of  dress,  16 — Facts  of  physiological  fetichism,  17 — 
Religious  and  erotic  fetichism,  18 — Hair,  hand,  foot  of 
the  female  as  fetiches,  21 — Eye,  smell,  voice,  psychical 
qualities  as  fetich,  22. 


n.  PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS  26 

Puberty,  25 — Time  limit  of  sexual  life,  26 — Sexual  instinct, 
26 — Localisation,  27 — Physiological  development  of 
sexual  life,  28 — Erections :  Centre  of  erection,  28 — Sphere 
of  sexuality  and  olfaction,  32 — Flagellation  as  a  stimu- 
lant for  sexual  life,  34 — Sect  of  flagellants,  35 — "  Flagel- 
lum  Salutis "  of  Paulini,  36 — "Erogenous"  (hyperses- 
thetic)  zones,  38 — Control  of  sexual  instinct,  40 — 
Coitus,  40 — Ejaculation,  41. 


III.  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  FACTS     ......  42 

Primary  and  secondary  sexual  characteristics,  42 — Psychical 
characteristics,  42 — Differentiation  of  sexes,  42--Gyn8e- 
comastv,  43 — Development  of  sexual  type,  44 — Eunuchs, 
46. 


XI 


XII 


CONTENTS 


IV.  GENERAL  PATHOLOGY   (NEUROLOGICAL  AND 
PSYCHOLOGICAL)  

Frequency  and  importance  of  pathological  manifestations,  48 
— Schedule  of  Literature,  48 — Sexual  neuroses,  49 — In- 
fluences stimulating  the  erectile  tissues,  49 — Paralysis  of 
the  erectile  tissues,  50 — Temporary  impotence,  50 — 
Neurosis  of  the  nerve  centres  of  ejaculation,  51 — 
Neuroses  produced  by  cerebral  causes,  52 — Pa/radoxia, 
i.e.,  sexual  instinct  outside  the  period  of  anatomical- 
physiological  processes,  55 — Sexual  instinct  in  early 
childhood,  55 — Sexual  instinct  reappearing  in  old  age, 
57 — Sexual  perversions  in  seniles  due  to  impotence  or 
dementia,  57 — AncBsthesia  sexualis,  i.e.,  absence  of  sexual 
instinct,  61 — congenital,  61 — acquired,  68 — Hyper- 
(Bsthesia,  i.e.,  patliologically  exaggerated  sexual  instinct, 
69 — Conditions  and  manifestations  of  this  anomaly,  70 — 
Pa/rwstheaiw  or  perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct,  79 — 
Perversion  and  perversity,  79 — Sadism,  an  attempted  ex- 
planation of  sadism,  80 — Sadistic  lust  murder,  88 — ^An- 
thropophagy, 95 — ^Mutilation  of  corpses,  99 — ^Maltreat- 
ment of  women  by  cutting  or  flogging,  etc.,  105 — Defile- 
ment of  female  persons,  113 — Symbolic  sadism,  i.e., 
brutal  force  employed  against  female  persons,  118 — 
Ideal  sadism,  118 — Sadism  practised  on  any  other  object, 
121 — Flogging  of  boys,  121 — Sadistic  acts  on  animals,  125 
— Sadism  in  woman,  129 — Kleist's  "  Penthesilea,"  130 — 
Masochism,  131 — Essence  and  clinical  manifestations  of 
masochism,  132 — ^Maltreatment  and  humiliation  invited 
for  the  purpose  of  sexual  gratification,  134 — Passive 
flagellation  and  its  relations  to  masochism,  140 — Fre- 
quency and  practices  of  masochism,  149 — Symbolic  maso- 
chism, 159 — Ideal  masochism,  161 — Jean  Jacques  Rous- 
Beau,  166 — Masochism  in  scientific  and  belletristical 
literature,  169 — Latent  masochism,  171 — Shoe  and  foot 
fetichism,  171 — Koprolagnia,  186-Masochism  in  woman, 
195 — An  attempted  explanation  of  masochism,  200 — 
Sexual  bondage,  202 — ^Masochism  and  sadism,  213 — 
Fetichism,  definition  of,  218 — Cases  in  which  the  fetich 
is  a  part  of  the  female  body,  224 — Hand  fetichism,  226 
— Bodily  defects  as  fetiches,  234 — Hair  fetichism,  239 — 
Hair  despoilers,  241 — The  fetich  is  a  part  of  female 
attire,  247 — Mania  for  (theft  of)  female  handkerchiefs, 
255 — Shoe  fetichism,  260 — The  fetich  consists  of  some 
special  fabric,  268 — Fur,  silk,  velvet,  gloves,  roses,  274 — 
Beast  fetichism,  281 — Antipathic  sexual  instinct,  282 — 
Acquired  sexual  inversion  in  either  sex,  286 — Neurotic 
taint  a  condition  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  289 — 
Grades  of  acquired  perversion,  289 — Simple  inversion  of 
sexual  instinct,  289 — Eviration  and  defemination,  297 
— Insanity  among  the  Scythians,  302 — ^Mujerados,  303 — 
Transition  to  metamorphosis  sexualis,  304 — Metamor- 
phosis sexualis  param,oica,  328 — Congenital  antipathic 
sexuality,  335 — Various  clinical  forms  thereof,  336 — Gen- 
eral symptoms,  339 — Attempted  explanation  of  this 
anomaly,  340 — Congenital  a/ntipathic  sexuality  vn  the 
male,  350 — Psychical  hermaphroditism,  352 — Homo- 
sexualitj.     364 — Urnings,     364 — Effemination,     382 — 


CONTENTS 


XIII 


PAGB 


Androgyny,  389 — Congenital  a/ntipathic  sexuality  in  the 
female^  395 — Complications  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct, 
439 — Diagnosis,  prognosis  and  therapy  of  sexual  inver- 
sion, 443. 


The  manifestations  of  pathological  sexual  life  in  the  various 
forms  and  conditions  of  mental  disturbance,  462 — In- 
hibition of  psychical  development,  462 — ^Acquired  mental 
debility,  466 — Dementia  following  psychosis  or  apoplexy, 

466 —  Or  injuries  to  the  head,  466 — Or  lues  cerehralis, 

467 —  Dementia  paralytica,  468 — Epilepsy,  469 — Periodi- 
cal dementia,  478 — PsychopatMa  sexualis  periodica,  479 
— ^Mania,  481 — Symptoms  of  sexual  excitement  in 
maniacs,  481 — Satyriasis  and  nymphomania,  482 — 
Chronic  satyriasis  and  nymphomania,  486 — ^Melancholia, 
492— Hysteria,  492— Paranoia,  494. 


V-  PATHOLOGICAL   SEXUAL   LIFE   BEFORE  THE 


Sexual  crimes  endanger  the  common  weal,  498 — On  the  in- 
crease, 499 — Probable  causes,  500 — Clinical  researches, 
501 — Sexual  crimes  not  properly  understood  by  the  law 
profession,  502 — Points  for  the  proper  judgment  of  sexual 
crimes,  502 — Conditions  for  the  cessation  of  responsi- 
bility, 502 — Points  for  the  psychopathological  importance 
of  sexual  crimes,  503 — Sexual  crimes  classified,  503 — 
Exhibitionists,  504 — Frotteurs,  522 — Defilers  of  statues, 
525 — Kape  and  lust-murder,  526 — Bodily  injury,  viola- 
tion of  things,  cruelty  to  animals  caused  by  sadism, 
633 — Masochism  and  sexual  bondage,  539 — Bodily  injury, 
robbery,  theft  emanating  from  fetichism,  543 — Notes  on 
the  question  of  responsibility  in  sexual  offences  caused 
by  delusions,  549 — Immorality  with  persons  under  the 
age  of  fourteen,  552 — Non-psychopathological  cases,  552 — 
Psychopathological  cases,  554 — Unnatural  abuse,  561 — 
Violation  of  animals,  sodomy,  bestiality,  561 — Zooerasty, 
563 — Unnatural  sexual  relations  with  persons  of  the 
same  sex,  pederasty,  571 — In  relation  to  sexual  inversion, 
572 — Necessity  to  distinguish  between  pathological  and 
normal  conditions  of  pederasty,  572 — Forensic  opinion 
on  congenital  sexual  inversion  and  when  pathologically 
acquired,  573 — Letter  from  an  uming,  574 — Reasons  why 
legal  proceedings  against  homosexual  acts  should  be 
stopped,  578 — Cultivated  pederasty  (not  pathological), 
585 — Causes  of  the  vice,  585 — Social  life  of  pederasts, 
587 — A  woman-hater's  ball  in  Berlin,  590 — Various  cate- 
gories of  male-loving  men,  593 — Pwdicatio  mulierum, 
594 — Amor  lesMcus,  607 — Necrophilia,  611 — Incest,  612 
— Violation  of  wards^  614. 


IV.  SPECIAL  PATHOLOGY 


445 


CRIMINAL  POEUM 


49S 


INDEX 


61S 


1.  FEAGMENTS  OF  A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 
OF  SEXUAL  LIFE. 

The  propagation  of  the  human  race  is  not  left  to  mere 
accident  or  the  caprices  of  the  individual,  but  is  guaran- 
teed by  the  hidden  laws  of  nature  which  are  enforced  by 
a  mighty,  irresistible  impulse.  Sensual  enjoyment  and 
physical  fitness  are  not  the  only  conditions  for  the  en- 
forcement of  these  laws,  but  higher  motives  and  aims, 
such  as  the  desire  to  continue  the  species  or  the  individu- 
ality of  mental  and  physical  qualities  beyond  time  and 
space,  exert  a  considerable  influence.  Man  puts  himself 
at  once  on  a  level  with  the  beast  if  he  seeks  to  gratify 
lust  alone,  but  he  elevates  his  superior  position  when  by 
curbing  the  animal  desire  he  combines  with  the  sexual 
functions  ideas  of  morality,  of  the  sublime,  and  the  beau- 
tiful. 

Placed  upon  this  lofty  pedestal  he  stands  far  above 
nature  and  draws  from  inexhaustible  sources  material  for 
nobler  enjoyments,  for  serious  work  and  for  the  realisation 
of  ideal  aims.  Maudsley  ("Deutsche  Klinik,"  1873,  2,  3) 
justly  claims  that  sexual  feeling  is  the  basis  upon  which 
social  advancement  is  developed. 

I?  man  were  deprived  of  sexual  distinction  and  the 
nobler  enjoyments  arising  therefrom,  all  poetry  and  pi^ob- 
ably  all  moral  tendency  would  be  eliminated  from  his  life. 

Sexual  life  no  doubt  is  the  one  mighty  factor  in  the 
individual  and  social  relations  of  man  which  disclose  his 
powers  of  activity,  of  acquiring  property,  of  establishing  a 
home,  of  awakening  altruistic  sentiments  towards  a  person 
of  the  opposite  sex,  and  towards  his  own  issue  as  well  as 
towards  the  whole  human  race. 

1 


2 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Sexual  feeling  is  really  the  root  of  all  ethics,  and  no 
doubt  of  sestheticism  and  religion. 

The  sublimest  virtues,  even  the  sacrifice  of  self,  may 
spring  from  sexual  life,  which,  however,  on  account  of  its 
sensual  power,  may  easily  degenerate  into  the  lowest 
passion  and  basest  vice. 

Love  unbridled  is  a  volcano  that  burns  down  and  lays 
waste  all  around  it;  it  is  an  abyss  that  devours  all — 
honour,  substance  and  health. 

It  is  of  great  psychological  interest  to  follow  up  the 
gradual  development  of  civilisation  and  the  influence 
exerted  by  sexual  life  upon  habits  and  morality.^  The 
gratification  of  the  sexual  instinct  seems  to  be  the  primary 
motive  in  man  as  well  as  in  beast.  Sexual  intercourse  is 
done  openly,  and  man  and  woman  are  not  ashamed  of 
their  nakedness.  The  savage  races,  e.g.,  Australasians, 
Polynesians,  Malays  of  the  Philippines  are  still  in  this  stage 
{vide  Floss).  Woman  is  the  common  property  of  man, 
the  spoil  of  the  strongest  and  mightiest,  who  chooses  the 
most  winsome  for  his  own,  a  sort  of  instinctive  sexual 
selection  of  the  fittest. 

Woman  is  a  "chattel,"  an  article  of  commerce,  exchange 
or  gift,  a  vessel  for  sensual  gratification,  an  implement  for 
toil.  The  presence  of  shame  in  the  manifestations  and 
exercise  of  the  sexual  functions,  and  of  modesty  in  the 
mutual  relations  between  the  sexes  are  the  foundations  of 
morality.  Thence  arises  the  desire  to  cover  the  nakedness 
("and  they  saw  that  they  were  naked")  and  to  perform 
the  act  in  private. 

The  development  of  this  grade  of  civilisation  is  fur- 
thered by  the  conditions  of  frigid  climes  which  necessitate 
the  protection  of  the  whole  body  against  the  cold.    It  is  an 

^Cf,  Lomlroso,  "  The  Criminal  " ;  Westermarch,  "  The  History  of 
Marriage";  Ploss,  "Das  Weib  in  der  Natur-  und  Volkerkunde,"  third 
edition,  vol.  ii.,  p.  413-90.  Joseph  Miiller,  "  Das  sexuelle  Leben  der 
Naturvolkur,"  2  Aufl.  1902;  derselhe,  "Das  sexuelle  Leben  der  alten 
Kulturvolker,  1902  (Leipzig,  Grieben). 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE*  3 

anthropological  fact  that  modesty  can  be  traced  to  much 
earlier  periods  among  northern  races/ 

Another  element  which  tends  to  promote  the  refined 
development  of  sexual  life  is  the  fact  that  woman  ceases 
to  be  a  ^^chattel''.  She  becomes  an  individual  being,  and, 
although  socially  still  far  below  man,  she  gradually  ac- 
quires rights,  independence  of  action,  and  the  privilege  to 
bestow  her  favours  where  she  inclines.  She  is  wooed  by 
man.  Traces  of  ethical  sentiments  pervade  the  rude  sen- 
sual appetite,  idealisation  begins  and  community  of  woman 
ceases.  The  sexes  are  drawn  to  each  other  by  mental  and 
physical  merits  and  exchange  favours  of  preference.  In 
this  stage  woman  is  conscious  of  the  fact  that  her  charms 
belong  only  to  the  man  of  her  choice.  She  seeks  to  hide 
them  from  others.  This  forms  the  foundation  of  modesty, 
chastity  and  sexual  fidelity  so  long  as  love  endures. 

This  development  is  hastened  w^herever  nomadic  habits 
yield  to  the  spirit  of  colonisation,  where  man  establishes 
a  household.  He  feels  the  necessity  for  a  companion  in 
life,  a  housewife  in  a  settled  home. 

The  Egyptians^  the  Israelites^  and  the  OreeJcs  reached 
this  level  at  early  periods,  so  did  the  Teutonic  races.  Its 
principal  characteristics  are  high  appreciation  of  virginity, 
chastity,  modesty  and  sexual  fidelity  in  strong  contrast 
to  the  habits  of  other  peoples  where  the  host  places  the 
personal  charms  of  the  wife  at  the  disposal  of  the  guest. 

The  history  of  Japan  furnishes  a  striking  proof  that 
this  high  grade  of  civilisation  is  often  the  last  stage  of 
moral  development,  for  in  that  country  to  within  twenty 
years  ago  prostitution  was  not  considered  to  impair  in  any 
way  the  social  status  of  the  future  wife. 

Christianity  raised  the  union  of  the  sexes  to  a  sublime 
position  by  making  woman  socially  the  equal  of  man  and 
by  elevating  the  bond  of  love  to  a  moral  and  religious 

^According  to  WestermarcJcy  op,  dt.,  it  was  "not  the  feeling  of 
shame  which  suggested  the  garment,  but  the  garment  engendered 
shame.  The  desire  to  make  themselves  more  attractive  originated 
the  habit  among  men  and  women  to  cover  their  nakedness." 


4 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


institution/  Thence  emanates  the  fact  that  the  love  of 
man,  if  considered  from  the  standpoint  of  advanced  civili- 
sation, can  only  be  of  a  monogamic  nature  and  must  rest 
upon  a  staple  basis.    Even  though  nature  should  claim 

^This  assertion  may  be  modified  in  so  far  that  the  symbolical  and 
sacramental  character  of  matrimony  was  clearly  defined  only  by  the 
Council  of  Trent,  although  the  spirit  of  Christianity  always  tended 
to  raise  woman  from  the  inferior  position  which  she  occupied  in  pre- 
vious centuries  and  in  the  Old  Testament. 

The  tradition  that  woman  was  created  from  the  rib  of  the  sleep- 
ing man  (see  Genesis)  is  one  of  the  causes  of  delay  in  this  direction, 
for  after  the  fall  she  is  told  "  thy  will  shall  be  subject  to  man."  Ac- 
cording to  the  Old  Testament,  woman  is  responsible  for  the  fall  of 
man,  and  this  became  the  corner-stone  of  Christian  teaching.  Thus 
the  social  position  of  woman  had  to  be  neglected,  as  it  were,  until 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  had  conquered  tradition  and  scholastic 
tenets. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  gospels  (barring  divorce.  Matt, 
xix.  9 )  contain  not  a  word  in  favour  of  woman.  The  clemency  shown 
towards  the  adulteress  and  the  penitent  Magdalen  do  not  affect  the 
position  of  woman  in  general.  The  epistles  of  St.  Paul  definitely  in- 
sist that  no  change  can  be  permitted  in  the  position  of  woman  ( 2  Cor. 
xi.  3-12;  Eph.  v.  22,  "woman  shall  be  subject  to  man,"  and  23, 
"  woman  shall  fear  man  " ) . 

How  much  the  fathers  of  the  Church  are  prejudiced  against 
woman  on  account  of  Eve's  part  in  the  temptation  may  be  easily 
learned  from  Tertullian,  "  Woman,  thou  shouldst  ever  go  in  mourn- 
ing and  sackcloth,  thy  eyes  filled  with  tears.  Thou  has  brought 
about  the  ruin  of  mankind."  ;8'*.  Jerome  has  aught  but  good  to  say 
about  woman.  "  Woman  is  the  gate  of  the  devil,  the  road  of  evil,  the 
sting  of  the  scorpion  "  ( "  De  Cultu  Feminarum,"  i.  1 ) . 

Canon  law  declares :  "  Man  only  is  created  to  the  image  of  God, 
not  woman;  therefore  woman  shall  serve  him  and  be  his  handmaid  ". 

The  Provincial  Council  of  Macon  (sixth  century)  seriously  dis- 
cussed the  question  whether  woman  had  a  soul  at  all. 

These  opinions  of  the  Church  had  a  sympathetic  influence  upon 
the  peoples  who  embraced  Christianity.  Among  the  converted  Ger- 
manic races  the  dower  value  of  woman  fell  considerably  (J.  Falke, 
"  Die  ritterliche  Gesellschaft,"  Berlin,  1862,  p.  49.  Re  the  valuation 
of  the  two  sexes  among  the  Jews,  cf.  3  Moses,  xxvii.  3-4). 

Even  polygamy,  which  is  distinctly  recognised  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, (Deut.  xxi.  15)  is  nowhere  in  the  New  Testament  definitely 
prohibited.  In  fact  many  Christian  princes  {e.g.  the  Merovingian 
kings:  Chlotar  I.,  Charibert  I.,  Pippin  I.  and  other  Frankish  nobles) 
indulged  in  polygamy  without  a  protest  being  raised  by  the  Church 
at  the  time  (Weinhold,  "Die  deutschen  Frauen  im  Mittelalter,"  ii., 
p.  15;  cf,  Vnger,  "Marriage,"  etc.,  and  Louis  Bridel,  "La  Femme  et 
le  Droit,"  Paris,  1884), 


A  /SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE. 


merely  the  law  of  propagation,  a  community  (family  or 
state)  cannot  subsist  without  the  guarantee  that  the  off- 
spring thrive  physically,  morally  and  intellectually.  From 
the  moment  when  woman  was  recognised  the  peer  of  man, 
when  monogamy  became  a  law  and  was  consolidated  by 
legal,  religious  and  moral  conditions,  the  Christian  nations 
obtained  a  mental  and  material  superiority  over  the  poly- 
gamic races,  and  especially  over  Islam. 

Mohammed  strove  to  raise  woman  from  the  position  of 
the  slave  and  mere  handmaid  of  enjoyment,  to  a  higher 
social  and  matrimonial  grade;  yet  she  remained  still  far 
below  man,  who  alone  could  obtain  divorce,  and  that  on 
the  easiest  terms. 

Above  all  things  Islamism  excludes  woman  from  public 
life  and  enterprise,  and  stifles  her  intellectual  and  moral 
advancement.  The  Mohammedan  woman  is  simply  a 
means  for  sensual  gratification  and  the  propagation  of 
the  species ;  whilst  in  the  sunny  balm  of  Christian  doctrine, 
blossom  forth  her  divine  virtues  and  her  qualities  of  house- 
wife, companion  and  mother.     What  a  contrast! 

Compare  the  two  religions  and  their  standard  of  future 
happiness.  The  Christian  expects  a  heaven  of  spiritual 
bliss  absolutely  free  from  carnal  pleasure;  the  Mohamme- 
dan an  eternal  harem,  a  paradise  among  lovely  houris. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  the  aid  which  religion,  law,  education  and 
the  moral  code  offer  him,  the  Christian  (to  subdue  his 
sensual  inclination)  often  drags  pure  and  chaste  love  from 
its  sublime  pedestal  and  wallows  in  the  quagmire  of  sen- 
sual enjoyment  and  lust. 

Life  is  a  never-ceasing  duel  between  the  animal  instinct 
and  morality.  Only  will-power  and  a  strong  character 
can  emancipate  man  from  the  meanness  of  his  corrupt 
nature,  and  teach  him  how  to  enjoy  the  pure  pleasures  of 
love  and  pluck  the. noble  fruits  of  earthly  existence. 

It  is  an  open  question  whether  the  moral  status  of 
mankind  has  undergone  an  improvement  in  our  times. 
No  doubt  society  at  large  shows  a  greater  veneer  of 


6 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


modesty  and  virtue,  and  vice  is  not  as  flagrantly  practised 
as  of  yore. 

The  reader  of  Scherr  (^^Deutsche  Culturgeschichte") 
will  gain  the  impression  that  our  moral  code  is  not  so 
gross  as  was  that  of  the  middle  ages,  even  if  only  more  re- 
fined manners  have  taken  the  place  of  former  coarseness. 

In  comparing  the  various  stages  of  civilisation  it  be- 
comes evident  that,  despite  periodical  relapses,  public 
morality  has  made  steady  progress,  and  that  Christianity 
is  the  chief  factor  in  this  advance. 

We  are  certainly  far  beyond  sodomitic  idolatry,  the 
public  life,  legislation  and  religious  exercises  of  ancient 
Greece,  not  to  speak  of  the  worship  of  Phallus  and  Priapus 
in  vogue  among  the  Athenians  and  Babylonians,  or  the 
Bacchanalian  feasts  of  the  Romans  and  the  privileged  posi- 
tion held  by  the  courtesans  of  those  days. 

There  are  stagnant  and  fluctuating  periods  in  this  slow 
progress,  but  they  are  only  like  the  ebb-  and  flood-tide  of 
sexual  life  in  the  individual. 

The  episodes  of  moral  decay  always  coincide  with  the 
progression  of  effeminacy,  lewdness  and  luxuriance  of  the 
nations.  These  phenomena  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the 
higher  and  more  stringent  demands  which  circumstances 
make  upon  the  nervous  system.  Exaggerated  tension  of 
the  nervous  system  stimulates  sensuality,  leads  the  indi- 
vidual as  well  as  the  masses  to  excesses,  and  undermines 
the  very  foundations  of  society,  and  the  morality  and  pur- 
ity of  family  life.  The  material  and  moral  ruin  of  the  com- 
munity is  readily  brought  about  by  debauchery,  adultery 
and  luxury.  Greece,  the  Roman  Empire,  and  France 
under  Louis  XIV.  and  XV.,  are  striking  examples  of  this 
assertion.  In  such  periods  of  civic  and  moral  decline  the 
most  monstrous  excesses  of  sexual  life  may  be  observed, 
which,  however,  can  always  be  traced  to  psycho-patho- 
logical or  neuro-pathological  conditions  of  the  nation  in- 
volved.^ 

^0/.  Friedldnder,  "  Sittengeschichte  Eoms  " ;  Wiedemeister,  "  Der 
Casarenwahnsinn " ;  Suetonius,  Moreau,  "  Des  aberrations  du  sens 
g6n6sique  '\ 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE. 


7 


Large  cities  are  hotbeds  in  which  neuroses  and  low 
morality  are  bred,  vide  the  history  of  Babylon,  Nineveh, 
Rome  and  the  mysteries  of  modern  metropolitan  life.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that  among  savages  and  half-civilised 
races  sexual  intemperance  is  not  observed  (except  among 
the  Aleutians  and  the  Oriental  and  Nama-Hottentot 
women  who  practise  masturbation)/ 

The  study  of  sexual  life  in  the  individual  naturally 
deals  with  its  various  phases,  beginning  with  the  stage  of 
puberty  to  the  extinction  of  sexual  feeling. 

Mantegazza  (^Thysiology  of  Love")  draws  a  beautiful 
picture  of  the  bodings  and  yearnings  of  awakening  love,  of 
the  mysterious  sensations,  foretastes  and  impulses  that  fill 
the  heart,  long  before  the  period  of  puberty  has  arrived. 
Psychologically  speaking,  this  is,  perhaps,  the  most  mo- 
mentous epoch  of  life,  for  the  wealth  of  ideas  and  senti- 
ments engendered  through  it,  forms  the  standard  by  which 
psychic  activity  may  be  measured. 

The  advance  of  puberty  develops  the  impulses  of  youth, 
hitherto  vague  and  undefined,  into  conscious  realisation  of 
the  sexual  power.  The  psychological  reactions  of  animal 
passion  manifest  themselves  in  the  irresistible  desires  of 
intimacy,  and  the  longing  to  bestow  the  strange  affections 
of  nature  upon  others. 

Religion  and  poetry  frequently  become  the  temporary 
haven  of  rest,  even  after  the  period  of  storm  and  stress  is 
passed.  Religious  enthusiasm  is  more  commonly  met 
with  in  the  young  than  the  old.    The  lives  of  the  saints^ 

^Friedreich  ("  Hdb.  dei  gerichtlicharztlich,  Praxis,"  1843,  i.  p. 
271)  is  of  a  different  opinion,  for  according  to  him  the  Red  Indians 
of  America  are  addicted  to  the  practice  of  pederasty.  Cf,  also  Lorn- 
hroso,  p.  42,  and  Block,  Beitrage  zur  Etiologie  der  Psychopathia 
Sexualis,  2.  Theil,  1903. 

'*Cf,  Friedreich  ("Gerichtl.  Psychologic,"  p.  389)  who  quotes  nu- 
merous examples.  For  instance,  Blcmkehin,  the  nun,  was  constantly 
tormented  by  the  thought  of  what  could  have  become  of  that  part  of 
Christ  which  was  removed  in  circumcision. 

Veronica  Juliani,  beatified  by  Pope  Pius  II.,  in  memory  of  the 
divine  lamb,  took  a  real  lamb  to  bed  with  her,  kissed  it  and  suckled 
it  on  her  breasts* 


8 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


are  replete  with  remarkable  records  of  temptations.  The 
religious  feasts  of  the  ancients  often  degenerated  into 
orgies,  or  into  mystic  cults  of  a  voluptuous  character. 
Even  the  meetings  of  certain  modern  sects  dissolve  them- 
selves simply  into  obscene  practices. 

On  the  contrary  we  find  that  the  sexual  instinct,  when 
disappointed  and  unappeased,  frequently  seeks  and  finds 
a  substitute  in  religion. 

Even  where  psycho-pathological  conditions  are  diag- 
nosed beyond  dispute,  this  relation  between  religious  and 
sexual  feelings  can  easily  be  established.  The  cause  of  re- 
ligious insanity  is  often  to  be  found  in  sexual  aberration. 
In  psychosis  a  motley  mixture  of  religious  and  sexual  delu- 
sions is  observable,  viz.^  in  female  lunatics  who  imagine 
that  they  are  or  will  be  the  mother  of  God,  and  especially 
in  persons  slaves  to  masturbation.  The  cruel,  sensual  acts 
of  chastisement,  violation,  emasculation  and  even  crucifix- 
ion perpetrated  upon  self  by  religious  maniacs,  bear  out 
this  assertion.^ 

Any  attempt  to  explain  the  psychological  relations  be- 
tween religion  and  love  must  needs  meet  with  difficulties, 
for  analogous  instances  are  met  with  in  great  numbers. 

Sexual  inclinations  and  religious  leanings  (if  consid- 
ered as  psychological  factors),  are  composed  of  two  ele- 
ments. 

Schleiermacher  recognised  the  primary  feeling  of  de- 

St,  Catharine  of  Genoa  often  burned  with  such  intense  inward 
fire  that  m  order  to  cool  herself  she  would  throw  herself  upon  the 
groujid  crying,  Love,  love,  I  can  endure  it  no  longer  At  the  same 
time  she  felt  a  peculiar  inclination  to  her  confessor.  One  day  lifting 
his  hand  to  her  nose  she  noticed  a  peculiar  odour  which  penetrated 
to  her  heart  "  a  heavenly  perfume  that  would  awaken  the  dead 

St,  Armelle  and  ;S^^.  Elizabeth  were  troubled  with  a  similar  long- 
ing for  the  Infant  Jesus.  The  temptations  of  St,  Ant  horn/,  of  Padua, 
are  known  to  the  world.  Of  significance  is  an  old  Protestant  prayer : 
"Oh!  that  I  had  found  thee,  bless'd  Emanuel;  that  thou  wert  with 
me  in  my  bed,  to  bring  delight  to  body  and  soul.  Come  and  be  mine. 
My  heart  shall  be  thy  resting  place." 

^Cf.  Friedreich,  "  Diagnostik  der  psych.  Krankheiten,"  p.  247 
etc.;  Neumann,  Lehrb.  d.  "Psychiatric,"  p.  80. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  9 

pendence  as  the  paramount  element  in  religion,  long  before 
modern  anthropological  and  ethnographic  research  in  the 
domain  of  primitive  causes,  arrived  at  the  same  conclu- 
sions. 

The  secondary  and  truly  ethical  element,  i.e.,  the  love 
of  God,  enters  the  religious  sentiment  only  when  a  higher 
stage  of  culture  is  attained.  At  first,  the  double-faced, 
now  benevolent,  now  angry,  chimeras  of  complicated 
mythologies,  take  the  place  of  the  evil  spirits,  until  they 
in  turn  are  dislodged  by  the  benign  form  of  the  deity,  the 
giver  of  perpetual  happiness,  whether  it  be  in  the  shape 
of  Jehovah  as  the  author  of  all  earthly  blessings,  or  Allah 
who  bestows  physical  delight  in  Paradise,  or  Christ  who 
is  gone  before  to  prepare  mansions  of  eternal  light  and 
bliss,  or  Nirvana  who  reigns  in  the  heaven  of  the  Buddhist. 

The  primary  element  of  sexual  preference  is  love,  i.e., 
the  expectation  of  unsurpassed  pleasure.  The  secondary 
element  is  the  feeling  of  dependence,  although  it  is  in 
reality  the  root  from  which  spring  alike,  as  the  former 
may  be  entirely  absent.  It  certainly  exists  in  a  stronger 
measure  in  woman,  on  account  of  her  social  position,  and 
the  passive  part  which  she  takes  in  the  act  of  procreation ; 
but  at  times  it  is  also  found  in  men  who  are  of  a  feminine 
type. 

Religion  as  well  as  sexual  love  is  mystical  and  trans- 
cendental. In  sexual  love  the  real  object  of  the  instinct, 
i.e.,  propagation  of  the  species,  is  not  always  present  to 
the  mind  during  the  act,  and  the  impulse  is  much 
stronger  than  could  be  justified  by  the  gratification  that 
can  possibly  be  derived  from  it.  Religious  love  strives 
for  the  possession  of  an  object  that  is  absolutely  ideal, 
and  cannot  be  defined  by  experimental  knowledge.  Both 
are  metaphysical  processes  which  give  unlimited  scope  to 
imagination. 

They  converge,  however,  in  a  similar  indefinite  focus ; 
for  the  gratification  of  the  sensual  appetite  promises  a 
boon  which  far  surpasses  all  other  conceivable  pleasures, 
and  faith  has  in  store  a  bliss  that  endures  for  ever. 


10 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


In  either  condition  the  mind  is  conscious  of  the  enor* 
mous  importance  of  the  object  to  be  obtained;  thus  im- 
pulses often  become  irresistible  and  overcome  all  opposing 
motives.  But  because  neither  of  them  can  at  times  grasp 
the  real  object  of  their  existence  they  easily  degenerate 
into  fanaticism,  in  which  intensity  of  emotion  overbalances 
clearness  and  stability  of  reason.  Expectation  of  un- 
fathomed  bliss  is  now  coupled  with  reckless  resignation 
and  unconditional  submission. 

Owing  to  this  conformity  it  happens  that  under  high 
tension  one  dislodges  the  other,  or  that  both  make  their 
appearance  together;  for  every  violent  upheaval  in  the 
soul  must  necessarily  sweep  along  its  surroundings. 
ITature,  always  the  same,  draws  alike  upon  these  two 
spheres  of  conception,  now  forcing  one  then  the  other 
into  stronger  activity,  which  degenerates  even  into  acts  of 
cruelty  either  actively  exercised,  or  passively  endured. 

In  religious  life  this  may  assume  the  shape  of  self- 
sacrifice  or  self-destruction,  prompted  by  the  idea  that 
the  victim  is  necessary  for  the  material  sustenance  of  the 
deity.  The  sacrifice  is  brought  as  a  sign  of  reverence  or 
submission,  as  a  tribute,  as  an  atonement  for  sins  com- 
mitted, or  as  a  price  wherewith  to  purchase  happiness. 

If,  however,  the  offering  consists  in  self -punishment — 
and  that  occurs  in  all  religions! — it  serves  not  only  as  a 
symbol  of  submission,  or  an  equivalent  in  the  exchange 
of  present  pain  for  future  bliss,  but  everything  that  is 
thought  to  come  from  the  deity,  all  that  is  done  in 
obedience  to  divine  mandates  or  to  the  honour  of  the 
Godhead,  is  felt  directly  as  pleasure.  Thus  religious 
exuberance  leads  to  ecstasy,  a  condition  in  which  con- 
sciousness is  so  preoccupied  with  feelings  of  mental 
pleasure,  that  distress  is  stripped  of  its  painful  quality. 

Exaggerated  religious  enthusiasm  also  finds  pleasure 
in  the  sacrifice  of  another  person,  when  rapture  combines 
with  sympathy. 

Similar  manifestations  may  be  observed  in  sexual  life, 


A  SYSTEM  OP  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  11 

as  will  be  shown  later  on  under  the  headings  of  Sadism 
and  Masochism. 

Thus  the  relations  existing  between  religion,  lust,  and 
cruelty/  may  be  condensed  into  the  formula:  Religious 
and  sexual  hyperaesthesia  at  the  acme  of  development 
show  the  same  volume  of  intensity  and  the  same  quality 
of  excitement,  and  may  therefore  under  given  circum- 
stances interchange.  Both  will  in  certain  pathological 
states  degenerate  into  cruelty. 

Sexual  influence  is  just  as  potent  in  the  awakening  of 
sesthetic  sentiments.  What  other  foundation  is  there  for 
the  plastic  art  or  poetry?  From  (sensual)  love  arises 
that  warmth  of  fancy  which  alone  can  inspire  the  creative 
mind,  and  the  fire  of  sensual  feeling  kindles  and  preserves 
the  glow  and  fervour  of  art. 

This  explains  the  sensual  natures  of  great  poets  and 
artists. 

The  world  of  fancy  keeps  pace  with  the  development 
of  sexual  power.  Whoever  during  that  period  cannot  be 
animated  by  the  ideals  of  all  that  is  great,  noble  and 
beautiful  remains  a  ^^Philistine''  all  his  life.  Even  the 
dolt  tries  his  hand  at  poetry  when  in  love. 

On  the  borders  of  physiological  reaction*  may  be 
observed  those  mysterious  processes  of  maturing  puberty, 
which  give  origin  to  obscure  yearnings  and  moods  of 
despondency  and  Weltschmerz^  rendering  life  tedious,  and 
coupled  with  the  impulse  to  inflict  pain  and  sorrow  upon 
others  (weak  analogies  of  a  psychological  connection  be- 
tween lust  and  cruelty). 

First  love  for  ever  trends  in  a  romantic  idealising 
direction.  It  wraps  the  beloved  object  in  the  halo  of 
perfection.  In  its  incipient  stages  it  is  of  a  platonic 
character,  and  turns  rather  to  forms  of  poetry  and  history. 

^This  may  be  observed  in  the  actual  life  as  well  as  in  the  fiction 
and  the  plastic  arts  of  degenerate  eras.  For  instance,  Bermni's  carv- 
ing, which  represents  St.  Teresa  "  sinking  in  an  hysterical  faint  upon 
a  marble  cloud,  whilst  an  amorous  angel  plunges  the  arrow  (of  divine 
love)  into  her  heart." — Lubhe, 


12 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtJALlS, 


With  the  approach  of  puberty  it  runs  the  risk  of  trans- 
ferring the  idealising  powers  upon  persons  of  the  opposite 
sex,  even  though  mentally,  physically  and  socially  they  be 
of  an  inferior  station.  To  this  may  easily  be  traced  many 
cases  of  misalliance,  abduction,  elopement  and  errors  of 
early  youth,  and  those  sad  tragedies  of  passionate  love  that 
are  in  conflict  with  the  principles  of  morality  or  social 
standing,  and  often  terminate  in  murder,  self-destruction, 
and  double  suicide. 

Purely  sensual  love  is  never  true  and  lasting,  for  which 
reason  first  love  is,  as  a  rule,  but  a  passing  infatuation,  a 
fleeting  passion. 

True  love  is  rooted  in  the  recognition  of  the  moral 
and  mental  qualities  of  the  beloved  person,  and  is  equally 
ready  to  share  pleasures  and  sorrows  and  even  to  make 
sacrifices.  True  love  shrinks  from  no  dangers  or  obstacles 
in  the  struggle  for  the  undisputed  possession  of  the  beloved. 

Deeds  of  daring  and  heroism  lie  in  its  wake.  But  un- 
less the  moral  foundation  be  solid  it  will  lead  to  crime, 
and  jealousy  often  mars  its  beauty. 

The  love  of  the  feeble-minded  is  based  upon  sentimen- 
tality, and  when  unrequited  results  in  suicide. 

Sentimental  love  is  likely  to  degenerate  into  a  bur- 
lesque, especially  when  the  sensual  element  lacks  force 
{e.g.  the  Knight  of  Joggenburg,  Don  Quixote,  and  many 
of  the  minstrels  and  troubadours  of  the  middle  ages). 

This  kind  of  love  is  nauseating  and  has  a  repulsive  or 
ludicrous  effect  on  others,  whilst  true  love  and  its  mani- 
festations command  sympathy,  respect,  and  even  fear. 

Love  when  weak  is  frequently  turned  away  from  its 
real  object  into  different  channels,  such  as  voluptuous 
poetry,  bizarre  aesthetics,  or  religion.  In  the  latter  case 
it  readily  falls  a  prey  to  mysticism,  fanaticism,  sectarian- 
ism or  religious  mania.  A  smattering  of  all  this  can  al- 
ways be  found  in  the  immature  love  of  early  puberty.  The 
poetical  effusions  of  that  period  of  life  are  only  then 
worthy  of  perusal  when  emanating  from  the  pen  of  the 
truly  endowed  genius. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  13 

Ethical  surroundings  are  necessary  in  order  to  elevate 
love  to  its  true  and  pure  form,  but,  notwithstanding  ^ 
sensuality  will  ever  remain  its  principal  basis. 

Platonic  love  is  a  platitude,  a  misnomer  for  ^^kindred 
spirits". 

Since  love  implies  the  presence  of  sexual  desire  it  can 
only  exist  between  persons  of  different  sex  capable  of 
sexual  intercourse.  When  these  conditions  are  wanting 
or  destroyed  it  is  replaced  by  friendship. 

The  sexual  functions  of  man  exercise  a  very  marked 
influence  upon  the  development  and  preservation  of  char- 
acter. Manliness  and  self-reliance  are  not  the  qualities 
which  adorn  the  impotent  onanist. 

Gyurkovechhy  (^^Mannl.  Impotenz,"  Wien,  1889)  is 
correct  in  his  observation  that  virility  establishes  the  ratio 
of  difference  between  old  men  and  yoimg,  and  that  im- 
potence impairs  health,  mental  freshness,  activity,  self- 
confidence  and  imagination.  The  damage  stands  in 
proportion  to  the  age  of  the  subject  and  the  extent  of  his 
debauchery. 

The  sudden  loss  of  the  virile  powers  often  produces 
melancholia,  or  is  the  cause  of  suicide  when  life  without 
love  is  a  mere  blank. 

In  cases  where  the  reaction  is  less  pronounced,  the 
victim  is  morose,  peevish,  egotistical,  jealous,  narrow- 
minded,  cowardly,  devoid  of  energy,  self-respect  and 
honour. 

The  Skopzes  for  instance  after  castration  rapidly  de- 
generate. 

This  matter  will  be  further  elucidated  under  the  head- 
ing of  "Effeminatio"  {v.  i.). 

In  the  sedate  matron  this  condition  is  of  minor  psy- 
chological importance,  though  it  is  noticeable.  The 
biological  change  affects  her  but  little  if  her  sexual  career 
has  been  successful,  and  loving  children  gladden  the  ma- 
ternal heart.    The  situation  is  different,  however,  where 


14 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sterility  has  denied  that  happiness,  or  where  enforced 
celibacy  prevented  the  performance  of  the  natural  func- 
tions. 

These  facts  characterise  strongly  the  differences  that 
prevail  in  the  psychology  of  sexual  life  in  man  and 
woman,  and  the  dissimilarity  of  sexual  feeling  and  desire 
in  both. 

Man  has  beyond  doubt  the  stronger  sexual  appetite  of 
the  two.  From  the  period  of  pubescence  he  is  instinc- 
tively drawn  towards  woman.  His  love  is  sensual,  and 
his  choice  is  strongly  prejudiced  in  favour  of  physical 
attractions.  A  mighty  impulse  of  nature  makes  him 
aggressive  and  impetuous  in  his  courtship.  Yet  the  law 
of  nature  does  not  wholly  fill  his  psychic  being.  Having 
won  the  prize^  his  love  is  temporarily  eclipsed  by  other 
vital  and  social  interests. 

Woman,  however,  if  physically  and  mentally  normal, 
and  properly  educated,  has  but  little  sensual  desire.  If 
it  were  otherwise,  marriage  and  family  life  would  be 
empty  words.  As  yet  the  man  who  avoids  women,  and 
the  woman  who  seeks  men  are  sheer  anomalies. 

Woman  is  wooed  for  her  favour.  She  remains  passive. 
Her  sexual  organisation  demands  it,  and  the  dictates  of 
good  breeding  come  to  her  aid. 

Nevertheless,  sexual  consciousness  is  stronger  in 
woman  than  in  man.  Her  need  of  love  is  greater,  it 
is  continual  not  periodical,  but  her  love  is  more  spiritual 
than  sensual.  Man  primarily  loves  woman  as  his  wife, 
and  then  as  the  mother  of  his  children;  the  first  place  in 
woman's  heart  belongs  to  the  father  of  her  child,  the 
second  to  him  as  husband.  Woman  is  influenced  in 
her  choice  more  by  mental  than  by  physical  qualities. 
As  mother  she  divides  her  love  between  offspring  and 
husband.  Sensuality  is  merged  in  the  mother's  love. 
Thereafter  the  wife  accepts  marital  intercourse  not  so 
much  as  a  sensual  gratification  than  as  a  proof  of  her  hus- 
band's affection. 

Woman  loves  with  her  whole  soul.     To  woman  love 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  15 

is  life,  to  man  it  is  the  joy  of  life.  Misfortune  in  love 
bruises  the  heart  of  man ;  but  it  ruins  the  life  of  woman 
and  wrecks  her  happiness.  It  is  really  a  psychological 
question  worthy  of  consideration  whether  woman  can  truly 
love  twice  in  her  life.  Woman's  mind  certainly  inclines 
more  to  monogamy  than  that  of  man. 

In  the  sexual  demands  of  man's  nature  will  be  found 
the  motives  of  his  weakness  towards  woman.  He  is 
enslaved  by  her,  and  becomes  more  and  more  dependent 
upon  her  as  he  grows  weaker,  and  the  more  he  yields  to 
sensuality.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  in  the  periods 
of  decline  and  luxury  sensuousness  was  the  predominant 
factor.  Whence  arises  the  social  danger  when  courtesans 
and  their  dependants  rule  the  State  and  finally  encompass 
its  ruin. 

History  shows  that  great  (states) men  have  often  been 
the  slaves  of  women  in  consequence  of  the  neuropathic 
conditions  of  their  constitution. 

It  shows  a  masterly  psychological  knowledge  of  human 
nature  that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  enjoins  celibacy 
upon  its  priests  in  order  to  emancipate  them  from  sensu- 
ality, and  to  concentrate  their  entire  activity  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  calling.  Nevertheless  it  is  a  pity  that  the  celibate 
state  deprives  the  priest  of  the  ennobling  influence  exer- 
cised by  love  and  marital  life  upon  the  character. 

From  the  fact  that  by  nature  man  plays  the  aggressive 
role  in  sexual  life,  he  is  exposed  to  the  danger  of  over- 
stepping the  limits  set  by  law  and  morality. 

The  unfaithfulness  of  the  wife,  as  compared  with 
that  of  the  husband,  is  morally  of  much  wider  bearing, 
and  should  always  meet  with  severer  punishment  at  the 
hands  of  the  law.  The  unfaithful  wife  not  only  dishon- 
ours herself,  but  also  her  husband  and  her  family,  not  to 
speak  of  the  possible  uncertainty  of  paternity. 

ITatural  instincts  and  social  position  are  frequent 
causes  of  disloyalty  in  man  (the  husband),  whilst  the 
wife  is  surrounded  by  many  protecting  influences. 

Sexual  intercourse  is  of  different  import  to  the  spinster 


16 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


and  to  the  bachelor.  Society  claims  of  the  latter  modestyj 
but  exacts  of  the  former  chastity  as  well.  Modem  civil- 
isation concedes  only  to  the  wife  that  exalted  position,  in 
which  woman  sexually  furthers  the  moral  interests  of 
society. 

The  ultimate  aim,  the  ideal,  of  woman,  even  when  she 
is  dragged  in  the  mire  of  vice,  ever  is  and  will  be  marriage. 
Woman,  as  Mantegazza  properly  observes,  seeks  not  only 
gratification  of  sensual  desires,  but  also  protection  and 
support  for  herself  and  her  offspring.  No  matter  how 
sensual  man  may  be,  unless  also  thoroughly  depraved,  he 
seeks  for  a  consort  only  that  woman  whose  chastity  he 
cannot  doubt. 

The  emblem  and  ornament  of  woman  aspiring  to  this 
state,  truly  worthy  of  herself,  is  modesty,  so  beautifully 
defined  by  Mantegazza  as  ^^one  of  the  forms  of  physical 
self-esteem." 

To  discuss  here  the  evolution  of  this,  the  most  graceful 
of  virtues  in  woman,  is  out  of  place,  but  most  likely  it  is 
an  outgrowth  of  the  gradual  rise  of  civilisation. 

A  remarkable  contrast  may  be  found  in  the  occasional 
exposure  of  physical  charms,  conventionally  sanctioned  by 
the  world  of  fashion,  in  which  even  the  most  discreet 
maiden  will  indulge  when  robed  for  the  ball-room,  theatre, 
or  similar  social  function.  Although  the  reasons  for  such 
a  display  are  obvious,  the  modest  woman  is  fortunately 
no  more  conscious  of  them,  than  of  the  motives  whicli 
underlie  periodical  fashions  that  bring  certain  forms  of 
the  body  into  undue  prominence,  to  say  nothing  of  corsets, 
etc. 

In  all  times,  and  among  all  races,  the  women  are  fond 
of  toilet  and  finery.  In  the  animal  kingdom  nature  has 
distinguished  the  male  with  the  greater  beauty.  Men 
designate  women  as  the  beautiful  sex,  a  gallantry  which 
clearly  arises  from  their  sensual  requirements.  So  long 
as  woman  seeks  only  self-gratification  in  personal  adorn- 
ment, and  so  long  as  she  remains  unconscious  of  the  psy- 
chological  reasons  for  thus  making  herself  attractive,  no 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE 


17 


objection  can  be  raised  against  it,  but  when  done  with 
the  fixed  purpose  to  please  men  it  degenerates  into  co- 
quetry. 

Under  analogous  circumstances  man  would  make  him- 
self ridiculous. 

Woman  far  surpasses  man  in  the  natural  psychology 
of  love,  partly  because  evolution  and  training  have  made 
love  her  proper  element,  and  partly  because  she  is  ani- 
mated by  more  refined  feelings  {Mantegazza). 

Even  the  best  of  breeding  concedes  to  man  that  he 
looks  upon  woman  mainly  as  a  means  by  which  to  satisfy 
the  cravings  of  his  natural  instinct,  though  it  confines 
him  only  to  the  woman  of  his  choice.  Thus  civilisation 
establishes  a  binding  social  contract  which  is  called  mar- 
riage, and  grants  by  legal  statutes  protection  and  support 
to  the  wife  and  her  issue. 

It  is  important,  and  on  account  of  certain  pathological 
manifestations  (to  be  referred  to  later  on)  indispensable,  to 
examine  into  those  psychological  events  which  draw  man 
and  woman  into  that  close  union  which  concentrates  the 
fulness  of  affection  upon  the  beloved  one  only  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  other  persons  of  the  same  sex. 

If  one  could  demonstrate  design  in  the  processes  of 
nature — adaptation  cannot  be  denied  them — ^then  the  fact 
of  fascination  by  one  person  of  the  opposite  sex  with  in- 
difference towards  all  others,  as  it  occurs  between  true 
and  happy  lovers,  would  appear  as  a  wonderful  provision 
to  ensure  monogamy  for  the  promotion  of  its  object. 

The  scientific  observer  finds  in  this  loving  bond  of 
hearts  by  no  means  simply  a  mystery  of  souls,  but  he  can 
refer  it  nearly  always  to  certain  physical  or  mental  pecu- 
liarities by  which  the  attracting  power  is  qualified. 

Hence  the  words  fetich  and  fetichism.  The  word 
fetich  signifies  an  object,  or  parts  or  attributes  of  objects, 
which  by  virtue  of  association  to  sentiment,  personality,  or 
absorbing  ideas,  exert  a  charm  (the  Portuguese  "fetisso"} 
or  at  least  produce  a  peculiar  individual  impression  which 

3 


18 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


is  in  no  wise  connected  with  the  external  appearance  of 
the  sign,  symbol  or  fetich/ 

The  individual  valuation  of  the  fetich  extending  even 
to  unreasoning  enthusiasm  is  called  fetichism.  This  in- 
teresting psychological  phenomenon  may  be  explained  by 
an  empirical  law  of  association,  ix.,  the  relation  existing 
between  the  notion  itself  and  the  parts  thereof  which  are 
essentially  active  in  the  production  of  pleasurable  emotions. 
It  is  most  commonly  found  in  religious  and  erotic  spheres. 
Religious  fetichism  finds  its  original  motive  in  the  delusion 
that  its  object,  i,e,j,  the  idol,  is  not  a  mere  symbol,  but 
possesses  divine  attributes,  and  ascribes  to  it  peculiar 
wonder-working  (relics)  or  protective  (amulets)  virtues. 

Erotic  fetichism  makes  an  idol  of  physical  or  mental 
qualities  of  a  person  or  even  merely  of  objects  used  by 
that  person,  etc.,  because  they  awaken  mighty  associations 
with  the  beloved  person,  thus  originating  strong  emotions 
of  sexual  pleasure.  Analogies  with  religious  fetichism 
are  always  discernible;  for,  in  the  latter,  the  most  in- 
significant objects  (hair,  nails,  bones,  etc.)  become  at 
times  fetiches  which  produce  feelings  of  delight  and  even 
ecstasy. 

The  germ  of  sexual  love  is  probably  to  be  found  in  the 
individual  charm  (fetich)  with  which  persons  of  opposite 
sex  sway  each  other. 

The  case  is  simple  enough  when  the  sight  of  a  person 
of  the  opposite  sex  occurs  simultaneously  with  sexual 
excitement,  whereby  the  latter  is  intensified. 

Emotional  and  optical  impressions  combine  and  are 
so  deeply  embedded  in  the  mind  that  a  recurring  sensation 
awakens  the  visual  memory  and  causes  renewed  sexual 
excitement,  even  orgasm  and  pollution  (often  only  in 
dreams),  in  which  case  the  physical  appearance  acts  as 
a  fetich. 

Binet,  inter  alia,  contends  that  mere  peculiarities, 

^0/.  Max  Muller  who  derives  the  word  fetich  etymologically  from 
factitius,  i,  e,,  artificial,  insignificant. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  19 

whether  physical  or  mental,  may  have  the  effect  of  the 
fetich,  if  their  perception  coincides  with  sexual  emotion. 

Experience  shows  that  chance  controls  in  a  large 
measure  this  mental  association,  that  the  nature  of  the 
fetich  varies  with  the  personality  of  the  individual,  thus 
arousing  the  oddest  sympathies  or  antipathies. 

These  physiological  facts  of  fetichism  often  account 
for  the  affections  that  suddenly  arise  between  man  and 
woman,  the  preference  of  a  certain  person  to  all  others 
of  the  same  sex.  Since  the  fetich  assumes  the  form  of 
a  distinctive  mark  it  is  clear  that  its  effect  can  only  be 
of  an  individual  character.  Being  accentuated  by  the 
strongest  feelings  of  pleasure,  it  follows,  that  existing 
faults  in  the  beloved  are  overlooked  (^^Love  is  blind")  and 
an  infatuation  is  produced  which  appears  incomprehensible 
or  silly  to  others.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  devoted 
lover  who  worships  and  invests  his  love  with  qualities 
which  in  reality  do  not  exist,  is  looked  upon  by  others 
simply  as  mad.  Thus  love  exhibits  itself  now  as  a  mere 
passion,  now  as  a  pronounced  psychical  anomaly  which 
attains  what  seemed  impossible,  renders  the  ugly  beautiful, 
the  profane  sublime,  and  obliterates  all  consciousness  of 
existing  duties  towards  others. 

Tarde  (^^ Archives  de  1' Anthropologic  Criminelle,"  vol. 
v.,  IsTo.  30)  argues  that  the  type  of  this  fetich  (ism)  varies 
with  persons  as  well  as  with  nations,  but  that  the  ideal 
of  beauty  remains  the  same  among  civilised  peoples  of  the 
same  era. 

Binet  has  more  thoroughly  analysed  and  studied  this 
fetichism  of  love. 

From  it  springs  the  particular  choice  for  slender  or 
plump  forms,  for  blondes  or  brunettes,  for  particular  form 
or  colour  of  the  eyes,  tone  of  the  voice,  odour  of  the  hair 
or  body  (even  artificial  perfume),  shape  of  the  hand,  foot 
or  ear,  etc.,  which  constitute  the  individual  charm,  the 
first  link  in  a  complicated  chain  of  mental  processes,  all 
converging  in  that  one  focus,  love,  i.e.j  the  physical  and 
mental  possession  of  the  beloved. 


20 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


This  fact  establishes  the  existence  of  physiological 
fetichism. 

Without  showing  a  pathological  condition  the  fetich 
may  exercise  its  power  so  long  as  its  leading  qualities 
represent  the  integral  parts,  and  so  long  as  the  love  en- 
gendered by  it  comprises  the  entire  mental  and  physical 
personality. 

"Normal  love  appears  to  us  as  a  symphony  of  tones 
Max  Dessoir  (pseudonym  Ludwig  Brunn)^  in  an  article 
"The  Fetichism  of  Love/'  cleverly  says : — 

"Normal  love  appears  to  us  as  a  symphony  of  tones 
of  all  kinds.  It  is  roused  by  the  most  varied  agencies. 
It  is,  so  to  speak,  polytheistic.  Fetichism  recognises 
only  the  tone-colour  of  a  single  instrument;  it  issues 
forth  from  a  single  motive ;  it  is  monotheistic." 

Even  moderate  thought  will  carry  the  conviction  that 
the  term  real  love  (so  often  misused)  can  only  apply 
where  the  entire  person  of  the  beloved  becomes  the  phy- 
sical and  mental  object  of  veneration. 

Of  course,  there  is  always  a  sensual  element  in  love, 
i.e.,  the  desire  to  enjoy  the  full  possession  of  the  beloved 
object,  and,  in  union  with  it,  to  fulfil  the  laws  of  nature. 

But  where  the  body  of  the  beloved  person  is  made 
the  sole  object  of  love,  or  if  sexual  pleasure  only  is  sought 
without  regard  to  the  communion  of  soul  and  mind,  true 
love  does  not  exist.  Neither  is  it  found  among  the  disciples 
of  Plato,  who  love  the  soul  only  and  despise  sexual  en- 
joyment. In  the  one  case  the  body  is  the  fetich,  in  the 
other  the  soul,  and  love  is  fetichism. 

Instances  such  as  these  represent  simply  transitions 
to  pathological  fetichism. 

This  assumption  is  enhanced  by  another  criterion  of 
true  love,  viz.,  the  mental  satisfaction  derived  from  the 
sexual  act.^ 

'"Deutsches  Montagsblatt,"  Berlin,  20,  8,  80. 
'  Magncm's  "  spinal  cerebral  post^rieur  "  who  finds  gratification 
with  any  sort  of  woman,  is  only  animated  by  lust.   Meretricious  love 
that  is  purchased  cannot  be  genuine  {Mantegazza) .    Whoever  coined 
the  adage :    "  Sublat'a  lucerna  nullum  discrimen  inter  feminas,"  was 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  21 


A  striking  phenomenon  in  fetichism  is  that  among 
the  many  things  which  may  serve  as  fetiches  there  are 
some  which  gain  that  significance  more  commonly  than 
others;  for  instance,  the  hair^  the  hand^  the  foot  of 
woman,  or  the  expression  of  the  eye.  This  is  important 
in  the  pathology  of  fetichism. 

Woman  certainly  seems  to  be  more  or  less  conscious 
of  these  facts.  Tor  she  devotes  great  attention  to  her 
hair  and  often  spends  an  unreasonable  amount  of  time 
and  money  upon  its  cultivation.  How  carefully  the 
mother  looks  after  her  little  daughter's  hair!  What  an 
important  part  the  hairdresser  plays !  The  falling  out  of 
the  hair  causes  despair  to  many  a  young  lady.  The 
author  remembers  the  case  of  a  vain  woman  who  fell 
into  melancholia  on  account  of  this  trouble,  and  finally 
committed  suicide.  A  favourite  subject  of  conversation 
among  ladies  is  coiffures.  They  are  envious  of  each 
other's  luxuriant  tresses. 

Beautiful  hair  is  a  mighty  fetich  with  many  men.  In 
the  legend  of  the  Lorelei,  who  lured  men  to  destruction, 
the  "golden  hair"  which  she  combs  with  a  golden  comb 
appears  as  a  fetich.  Frequently  the  hand  or  the  foot 
possesses  an  attractiveness  no  less  powerful;  but  in  these 
instances  masochistic  and  sadistic  feelings  often — though 

a  cynic,  indeed.  The  power  to  perform  love's  act  is  by  no  means  a 
guarantee  of  the  noblest  enjoyment  of  love. 

There  are  urnings  who  are  potent  for  women — ^men  who  do  not 
love  their  wives,  but  are  nevertheless  able  to  perform  the  marital 
"  duty  In  the  majority  of  these  cases  even  lustful  pleasure  is  ab- 
sent; for  it  is  simply  an  onanistic  act  rendered  possible  by  the  aid 
of  imagination  which  substitutes  another  beloved  being.  This  decep- 
tion may,  indeed,  superinduce  sexual  pleasure,  but,  rudimentary 
gratification  as  it  is,  it  can  only  arise  from  a  psychic  trick,  just  as 
in  solitary  onanism  voluptuous  satisfaction  is  obtained  chiefly  with 
the  assistance  of  fancy.  As  a  matter  of  fact  that  degree  of  orgasm 
which  completes  the  lustful  act  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  inter- 
vention of  fancy. 

Where  psychic  impediments  exist  (such  as  indifference,  disgust, 
aversion,  fear  of  contagion  or  impregnation,  etc. )  the  feeling  of  sexual 
gratification  seems  to  be  wanting  altogether. 


22 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


not  always — assist  in  determining  the  peculiar  kind  of 
fetich. 

By  a  transference  through  association  of  ideas,  gloves 
or  shoes  obtain  the  significance  of  a  fetich. 

Max  Dessoir  (op.  cit.)  points  out  that  among  the  cus- 
toms of  the  middle  ages  drinking  from  the  shoe  of  a 
beautiful  woman  (still  to  be  found  in  Poland)  played  a 
remarkable  part  in  gallantry  and  homage.  The  shoe  also 
plays  an  important  role  in  the  legend  of  Aschenbrodel. 

The  expression  of  the  eye  is  particularly  important 
as  a  means  of  kindling  the  spark  of  love.  A  neuropathic 
eye  frequently  affects  persons  of  either  sex  as  a  fetich. 
^^Madame,  vos  beaux  yeux  me  font  mourir  d'amour.^^ 
{Moliere), 

There  are  many  examples  showing  that  odours  of  the 
body  become  fetiches. 

This  fact  is  taken  advantage  of  in  the  ^^Ars  amandi'^ 
by  woman  either  consciously  or  unconsciously.  Ruth 
sought  to  attract  Boaz  by  perfuming  herself.  The  demir 
monde  of  ancient  and  modern  times  is  noted  for  its  lavish 
use  of  strong  scents.  J'dger,  in  his  "Discovery  of  the 
Soul/^  calls  attention  to  many  olfactory  sympathies. 

Cases  are  known  where  men  have  married  ugly  women 
solely  because  their  personal  odours  were  exceedingly 
pleasing. 

Binet  makes  it  probable  that  the  voice  also  may  act  as 
a  fetich. 

Belot  in  his  novel  "Les  baigneuses  de  Trouville'^ 
makes  the  same  assertion.  Binet  thinks  that  many 
marriages  with  singers  are  due  to  the  fetich  of  their 
voices.  He  also  observes  that  among  the  singino^  birds 
the  voice  has  the  same  sexual  significance  as  odours 
among  the  quadrupeds.  The  birds  allure  by  their  song, 
and  the  male  that  sings  most  beautifully  is  joined  at  night 
by  the  charmed  mate. 

The  pathological  facts  of  masochism  and  sadism  show 
that  mental  peculiarities  may  also  act  as  fetiches  but  in  a 
wider  sense. 


A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  SEXUAL  LIFE.  23 

Thus  the  fact  of  idiosyncrasies  is  explained,  and  the 
old  proverb  "De  gustihus  non  est  disputandnm"  retains  its 
force. 

With  regard  to  fetichism  in  woman,  science  must  at 
least  for  the  present  time  be  content  with  mere  con- 
jectures. This  much  seems  to  be  certain,  that  being  a 
physiological  factor,  its  effects  are  analogous  to  those 
in  men,  i.e.,  producing  sexual  sympathies  towards  persons 
of  the  same  sex. 

Details  will  come  to  our  knowledge  only  when  medical 
women  enter  into  the  study  of  this  subject. 

We  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  physical  as  well 
as  the  mental  qualities  of  man  assume  the  form  of  the 
female  fetich.  In  most  cases,  no  doubt,  physical  attributes 
in  the  male  exercise  this  power  without  regard  to  the 
existence  of  conscious  sensuality.  On  the  other  hand  it 
will  be  found  that  the  mental  superiority  of  man  con- 
stitutes the  attractive  power  where  physical  beauty  is 
wanting.  In  the  upper  ^^strata''  of  society  this  is  more 
apparent,  even  if  we  disregard  the  enormous  influence 
exercised  by  ^'blue  blood"  and  high  breeding.  The 
possibility  that  superior  intellectual  development  favours 
advancement  in  social  position,  and  opens  the  way  to  a 
brilliant  career,  does  not  seem  to  weigh  heavily  in  the 
balance  of  judgment. 

The  fetichism  of  body  and  mind  is  of  importance  in 
progeneration ;  it  favours  the  selection  of  the  fittest  and 
the  transmission  of  physical  and  mental  virtues. 

Generally  speaking  the  following  masculine  qualities 
impose  on  woman,  viz.,  physical  strength,  courage,  nobility 
of  mind,  chivalry,  self-confidence,  even  self-assertion,  inso- 
lence, bravado,  and  a  conscious  show  of  mastery  over  the 
weaker  sex. 

A  ^^Don  Juan"  impresses  many  women  and  elicits 
admiration,  for  he  establishes  the  proof  of  his  virile  powers, 
although  the  inexperienced  maiden  can  in  no  wise  suspect 
the  many  risks  of  lues  and  chronic  urethritis  she  runs 
from  a  marital  union  with  this  otherwise  interesting  rake. 


24 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


The  successful  actor,  musician,  or  vocal  artiste,  the 
circus  rider,  the  athlete,  and  even  the  criminal,  often  fasci- 
nate the  bread  and  butter  miss  as  well  as  the  maturer 
woman.  At  any  rate  women  rave  over  them,  and  inun- 
date them  with  love  letters. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  female  heart  has  pre- 
dominant weakness  for  military  uniforms,  that  of  the 
cavalry-man  ever  having  the  preference. 

The  hair  of  man,  especially  the  beard,  the  emblem  of 
virility,  the  secondary  symbol  of  generative  power — is  a 
predominant  fetich  with  woman.  In  the  measure  in 
which  women  bestow  special  care  upon  the  cultivation 
of  their  hair,  men  who  seek  to  attract  and  please  women, 
cultivate  the  elegant  growth  of  the  beard,  and  especially 
that  of  the  moustache. 

The  eye  as  well  as  the  voice  exert  the  same  charm. 
Singers  of  renown  easily  touch  woman's  heart.  They  are 
overwhelmed  with  love  letters  and  offers  of  marriage. 
Tenors  have  a  decided  advantage. 

Binet  (op,  cit,)  refers  to  an  observation  of  this  charac- 
ter made  by  Dumas  in  his  novel  ^^La  maison  du  vent'\  A 
woman  who  falls  in  love  with  a  tenor-voice  loses  her 
virtue. 

The  author  has  thus  far  not  succeeded  in  obtaining 
facts  with  regard  to  pathological  fetichism  in  woman. 


11.  PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS. 

During  the  time  of  the  physiological  processes  in  the 
reproductive  glands,  desires  arise  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  individual,  which  have  for  their  purpose  the  perpetua- 
tion of  the  species  (sexual  instinct). 

Sexual  desire  during  the  years  of  sexual  maturity  is  a 
physiological  law.  The  duration  of  the  physiological  pro- 
cesses in  the  sexual  organs,  as  well  as  the  strength  of  the 
sexual  desire  manifested,  vary,  both  in  individuals  and  in 
races.  Race,  climate,  heredity  and  social  circumstances 
have  a  very  decided  influence  upon  it.  The  greater  sensu- 
ality of  southern  races  as  compared  with  the  sexual  needs 
of  those  of  the  north  is  well  known.  Sexual  development 
in  the  inhabitants  of  tropical  climes  takes  place  much 
earlier  than  in  those  of  more  northern  regions.  In  women 
of  northern  countries  ovulation,  recognisable  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  body  and  the  occurrence  of  a  periodical 
flow  of  blood  from  the  genitals  (menstruation),  usually 
begins  about  the  thirteenth  to  the  fifteenth  year;  in  men 
puberty,  recognisable  in  the  deepening  of  the  voice,  the 
appearance  of  hair  on  the  face  and  mons  veneris,  and  the 
occasional  occurrence  of  pollutions,  etc.,  takes  place  about 
the  fifteenth  year.  In  the  inhabitants  of  tropical  countries, 
however,  sexual  development  obtains  several  years  earlier 
in  women — sometimes  as  early  as  the  eighth  year. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  girls  who  live  in  cities 
develop  about  a  year  earlier  than  girls  living  in  the  country, 
and  that  the  larger  the  town  the  earlier,  ceteris  paribus, 
the  development  takes  place. 

Heredity,  however,  has  no  small  influence  on  libido 
and  sexual  power.    Thus  there  are  families  in  which, 

(25) 


26 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


with  great  physical  strength  and  longevity,  great  libido 
and  virility  are  preserved  until  a  great  age,  while  in  other 
families  the  vita  sexualis  develops  late  and  is  early  ex- 
tinguished. 

In  woman  the  period  of  activity  of  the  reproductive 
glands  is  shorter  than  in  man,  in  whom  sexual  power 
may  last  until  a  great  age;  ovulation  ceases  about  thirty 
years  after  puberty.  The  period  of  waning  activity  of  the 
ovaries  is  called  the  change  of  life  (climacterium j  meno- 
pause). This  biological  phase  does  not  represent  merely 
a  cessation  of  functional  potency  and  final  atrophy  of  the 
reproductive  organs,  but  a  transformation  of  the  whole 
organism. 

In  Middle  Europe  the  sexual  maturity  of  man  begins 
about  the  eighteenth  year,  and  virility  reaches  its  acme 
at  forty.  After  that  age  it  slowly  declines.  The  potentia 
generandi  ceases  usually  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  but  po- 
tentia cceundi  may  be  present  much  longer. 

The  existence  of  the  sexual  instinct  is  continuous 
during  the  time  of  sexual  life,  but  it  varies  in  intensity. 
Under  physiological  conditions  it  is  never  periodical  in  the 
human  male,  as  it  is  in  animals;  it  manifests  an  organic 
variation  of  intensity  in  consonance  with  the  collection 
and  expenditure  of  semen.  In  women  the  degree  of  sexual 
desire  coincides  with  the  process  of  ovulation  in  such  a 
way  that  libido  sexualis  is  intensified  after  the  menstrual 
period. 

Sexual  instinct — as  emotion,  idea  and  impulse — is  a 
function  of  the  cerebral  cortex.  Thus  far  no  definite 
region  of  the  cortex  has  been  proved  to  be  exclusively 
the  seat  of  sexual  sensations  and  impulses.  This  psycho- 
sexual  centre  is  nothing  more  than  a  junction  and  crossing 
of  principal  paths  which  lead  on  the  one  hand  to  the  sensi- 
tive  motor  apparatus  of  the  sexual  organs,  and  on  the  other 
hand  to  those  nerve  centres  of  the  visual  and  olfactory 
organs  which  are  the  carriers  of  that  consciousness  which 
distingniishes  between  the  ^^male"  and  the  ^^female". 

Owing  to  the  close  relations  which  exist  between  th^ 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  I'ACTS. 


27 


sexual  instinct  and  the  olfactory  sense/  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  sexual  and  olfactory  centres  lie  close 
together  in  the  cerebral  cortex.  The  development  of 
sexual  life  has  its  beginning  in  the  organic  sensations 
which  arise  from  the  maturing  reproductive  glands.  These 
excite  the  attention  of  the  individual.  Reading  and  the 
experiences  of  every-day  life  (which,  unfortunately,  are 
now-a-days  too  early  and  too  frequently  suggestive),  con- 
vert these  notions  into  clear  ideas,  which  are  accentuated 
by  organic  sensations  of  a  pleasurable  character.  With 
this  accentuation  of  erotic  ideas  through  lustful  feelings, 
an  impulse  to  induce  them  is  developed  (sexual  desire). 

Thus  there  is  established  a  mutual  dependence  between 
the  cerebral  cortex  (as  the  place  of  origin  of  sensations 
and  ideas),  and  the  reproductive  organs.  The  latter,  by 
reason  of  physiological  processes  (hypersemia,  secretion  of 
semen,  ovulation),  give  rise  to  sexual  ideas,  images,  and 
impulses. 

The  cerebral  cortex,  by  means  of  preconceived  or  re- 
produced sensual  ideas,  reacts  on  the  reproductive  organs, 
including  hypersemia,  production  of  semen,  erection,  ejacu- 
lation. This  is  effected  by  means  of  centres  for  vasomotor 
inervation  and  ejaculation,  which  are  situated  in  the 
lumbar  regions  of  the  cord,  and  lie  close  together.  Both 
are  reflex  centres. 

The  centre  of  erection  {Ooltz,  Echhard)  is  an  inter- 
mediate station  placed  between  the  brain  and  the  genital 
apparatus.  The  nervous  paths  which  connect  it  with  the 
brain  probably  run  through  the  pediinculi  cerebri  and  the 
pons.  This  centre  may  be  excited  by  central  (psychical 
and  organic)  stimuli,  by  direct  irritation  of  the  nerve-tract 
in  the  peduncuUs  cerebri^  pons,  or  cervical  portion  of  the 
cord,  as  well  as  by  peripheral  irritation  of  the  sensory 

^The  olfactaiy  centre  is  presumed  by  Ferrier  ("  Functions  of  the 
Brain " )  to  be  in  the  region  of  the  gyrus  uncinatus,  ZucTcerkamdl 
("Ueber  das  Riechcentrum,"  1887),  from  researches  in  comparative 
anatomy,  concludes  that  the  olfactory  centre  has  its  seat  in  the  fif^- 
pocampus  major. 

J 


28 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


nerves  (penis,  clitoris  and  annexa).  It  is  not  directly  sub- 
ordinated to  the  will. 

The  excitation  of  this  centre  is  conveyed  to  the  corpora 
cavernosa  by  means  of  nerves  (nervi  erigentes — Eckhard) 
running  into  the  first  three  sacral  nerves. 

The  action  of  the  nervi  erigentes,  which  renders  erec- 
tion possible,  is  inhibitory  in  so  far  as  it  inhibits  the 
ganglionic  nervous  mechanism  in  the  corpora  cavernosa, 
upon  the  action  of  which  the  smooth  muscle-fibres  of  the 
corpora  cavernosa  are  dependent  (Kolliher  and  Kohl- 
rausch).  Under  the  influence  of  the  action  of  the  nervi 
erigenteSj  these  fibres  of  the  corpora  cavernosa  become  re- 
laxed, and  their  spaces  fill  with  blood.  Simultaneously,  as 
a  result  of  the  dilatation  of  the  capillary  net-work  of  the 
corpora  cavernosa,  pressure  is  exerted  upon  the  veins  of  the 
penis  and  the  return  of  blood  is  impeded.  This  effect  is 
aided  by  the  contraction  of  the  hulbo  cavernosus  and  erector 
penis  muscles,  which  extend  by  means  of  an  aponeurosis 
over  the  dorsal  surface  of  the  penis. 

The  erection-centre  is  under  the  influence  of  both 
exciting  and  inhibitory  innervation  arising  from  the  cere- 
brum. Ideas  and  sense-perceptions  of  sexual  content 
have  an  exciting  effect.  According  to  observations  made 
on  men  that  have  been  hung,  it  is  evident  that  the 
erection-centre  may  also  be  aroused  by  excitation  of  the 
tract  of  the  spinal  cord.  Observations  on  the  insane  and 
those  suffering  with  cerebral  disease  show  that  this  is 
also  possible  as  a  result  of  organic  irritation  in  the 
cerebral  cortex  (psycho-sexual  centre?).  Spinal  diseases 
(tabes,  especially  myelitis)  affecting  the  lumbar  portion^ 
of  the  cord,  in  their  earlier  stages,  may  directly  excite 
the  erection-centre. 

Reflex  excitation  of  the  centre  is  possible  and  frequent 
in  the  following  ways:  by  irritation  of  the  (peripheral) 

^Later  researches  by  Miiller  (Klin.  u.  experiment.  Studien,  etc^ 
Deutsche  Zeitschr.  f.  N.  heilkunde  xxi.)  seem  to  render  it  more  prob- 
able that  the  centre  of  erection  does  not  lie  in  the  conns  medullaris 
of  the  spinal  cord,  but  rather  in  the  sacral  ganglia,  thus  constituting 
a  sympathetic  reflex. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS. 


29 


sensory  nerves  of  the  genitals  and  surrounding  parts  l^y 
friction;  by  irritation  of  the  uretha  (gonorrhoea),  of  the 
rectum  (hsemorrhoids,  oxyuris),  of  the  bladder  (distension 
with  urine,  especially  in  the  morning;  irritation  of  cal- 
culi) ;  by  distension  of  the  vesiculse  seminales  with  semen; 
by  hyperaemia  of  the  genitals,  occasioned  by  lying  on  the 
back  and  thus  inducing  pressure  of  the  intestines  upon 
the  blood-vessels  of  the  pelvis. 

The  erection-centre  may  also  be  excited  by  irritation 
of  the  nervous  ganglia  which  are  so  abundant  in  the 
prostatic  tissue  (prostatitis,  introduction  of  catheter,  etc.). 

The  experiment  of  Ooltz,  according  to  whom,  when 
(in  dogs)  the  lumbar  portion  of  the  cord  is  severed, 
erection  is  more  easily  induced,  shows  that  the  erection- 
centre  is  also  subject  to  inhibitory  influences  from  the 
brain. 

In  men  the  fact  that  will-power  and  emotions, 
(fear  of  unsuccessful  coitus,  surprise  inter  actum  sex- 
ualem,  etc.)  may  inhibit  the  occurrence  of  erection,  and 
cause  it,  when  present,  to  disappear,  also  indicates  this. 

The  duration  of  erection  is  dependent  upon  the  dura- 
tion of  its  exciting  causes  (sensory  stimuli),  the  absence 
of  inhibitory  influences,  the  nervous  energy  of  the  centre, 
and  the  early  or  late  occurrence  of  ejaculation  (v.  infra). 

The  central  point  of  the  sexual  mechanism  is  the  cere- 
bral cortex.  It  is  justifiable  to  presume  that  there  is  a 
definite  region  of  the  cortex  (cerebral  centre),  which  gives 
rise  to  sexual  feelings,  ideas  and  impulses,  and  is  the  place 
of  origin  of  the  psycho-somatic  processes  which  we  desig- 
nate as  sexual  life,  sexual  instinct,  and  sexual  desire.  This 
centre  is  susceptible  to  both  central  and  peripheral  stimuli. 

Central  stimuli,  in  the  form  of  organic  excitation,  may 
be  due  to  diseases  of  the  corebral  cortex.  Physiologically 
they  are  dominated  by  psychical  impressions  (memory  and 
sensory  perceptions,  lascivious  stories,  touch,  pressure  of 
the  hand,  kiss,  etc.).  Auditory  and  olfactory  perceptions 
certainly  play  but  a  very  subordinate  role.    Under  patho- 


30 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


logical  conditions  (v.  infra),  the  latter  have  a  very  decided 
influence  in  inducing  sexual  excitement.^ 

In  beasts  the  influence  of  olfactory  perception  on  the 
sexual  sense  is  unmistakable.  AUhaus  (^^Beitrage  zur 
Physiol,  und  Pathol,  des  Olfactorius/'  "Archiv  fiir  Psych.'^ 
xii.,  H.  1)  declares  that  the  sense  of  smell  is  important 
with  reference  to  the  reproduction  of  the  species.  He 
shows  that  animals  of  opposite  sexes  are  drawn  to  each 
other  by  means  of  olfactory  perception,  and  that  almost 
all  animals,  at  the  time  of  rutting,  emit  a  specially  distinct 
odour  from  their  genitals.  An  experiment  by  Schiff  is 
confirmatory  of  this.  He  extirpated  the  olfactory  nerves 
in  puppies,  and  found  that,  as  the  animals  grew  up,  the 
male  was  imable  to  distinguish  the  female.  Again,  an 
experiment  by  Mantegazza  (^^Hygiene  of  Love"),  who  re- 
moved the  eyes  of  rabbits  and  found  that  the  defect  con- 
stituted no  obstacle  to  procreation,  shows  how  important 
in  animals  the  olfactory  sense  is  for  the  vita  sexualis. 

It  is  also  remarkable  that  many  animals  (musk-ox, 
civet-cat,  beaver),  possess  on  their  sexual  organs,  glands 
which  secrete  substances  having  a  very  strong  odour. 

AUhaus  also  shows  that  in  man  there  are  certain  re- 
lations existing  between  the  olfactory  and  sexual  senses. 
He  mentions  Cloquet  (^^Osphresiologie,''  Paris,  1826),  who 
calls  attention  to  the  sensual  pleasure  excited  by  the  odour 
of  flowers,  and  tells  how  Richelieu  lived  in  an  atmosphere 
laden  with  the  heaviest  perfumes,  in  order  to  excite  his 
sexual  functions. 

Zippe  (^^Wien.  Med.  Wochenschrift,''  1879,  No.  24), 
in  connection  with  a  case  of  kleptomania  in  an  onanist, 
likewise  establishes  such  relations,  and  cites  Hildebrand  as 
authority,  who  in  his  popular  physiology  says:  ^'It  can- 
not be  doubted  that  the  olfactory  sense  stands  in  remote 

^Cf.  Albert  Hagen,  "Die  sexuelle  Osphresiologie,"  Charlotten- 
burg,  1901  (Verlag  H.  Basdorf),  a  most  interesting  monograph  on 
the  relations  between  the  olfactory  senses  and  odours  and  the  sexual 
acts  in  man.  Albert  Moll,  "  Untersuchungen  iiber  libido  sexualis," 
p.  377.  (Literature  and  studies  on  the  olfactory  sense  as  a  stimu- 
lating cause  of  the  sexual  instinct.) 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  J^ACTS. 


31 


connection  with  the  sexual  apparatus.  Odours  of  flowers 
often  occasion  pleasurable  sensual  feelings,  and  when  one 
remembers  the  passage  in  the  ^Song  of  Solomon/  ^And  my 
hands  dropped  with  myrrh,  and  my  fingers  with  sweet- 
smelling  myrrh,  upon  the  handles  of  the  lock/  one  finds 
that  it  did  not  escape  Solomon's  observation.  In  the  Orient 
the  pleasant  perfumes  are  esteemed  for  their  relation  to 
the  sexual  organs,  and  the  women's  apartments  of  the  Sul- 
tan are  redolent  with  the  fragrance  of  flowers." 

Most  J  professor  in  Rostock  (cf,  Zippe),  relates:  "I 
learned  from  a  sensual  young  peasant  that  he  had  excited 
many  a  chaste  girl  sexually,  and  easily  gained  his  end,  by 
carrying  his  handkerchief  in  his  axilla  for  a  time,  while 
dancing,  and  then  wiping  his  partner's  perspiring  face 
with  it." 

The  case  of  Henry  III.  shows  that  contact  with  a 
person's  perspiration  may  be  the  exciting  cause  of  passion- 
ate love.  At  the  betrothal  feast  of  the  King  of  ^Tavarre 
and  Margaret  of  Valois,  he  accidentally- dried  his  face  with 
a  garment  of  Maria  of  Cleves,  which  was  moist  with  her 
perspiration.  Although  she  was  the  bride  of  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  Henry  conceived  immediately  such  a  passionate 
love  for  her  that  he  could  not  resist  it,  and  made  her,  as 
history  shows,  very  unhappy.  An  analogous  instance  is 
related  of  Henry  IV.,  whose  passion  for  the  beautiful 
Gabriel  is  said  to  have  originated  at  the  instant  when,  at 
tt  ball,  he  wiped  his  brow  with  her  handkerchief. 

Professor  Jdger,  the  ^^discoverer  of  the  soul,"  refers  to 
the  same  thing  in  his  well-known  book  (2nd.  ed.,  1880, 
chap.  XV.,  p.  173)  ;  for  he  regards  the  sweat  as  important 
in  the  production  of  sexual  effects,  and  as  being  especially 
seductive.^ 

One  learns  from  reading  the  work  of  Ploss  (^^Das 
Weib"),  that  attempts  to  attract  a  person  of  the  opposite 
sex  by  means  of  the  perspiration,  may  be  discerned  in 
many  forms  in  popular  psychology. 

^See  also  further  interesting  observations  on  the  aphrodisie  ef- 
fects of  sweat  on  both  sexes.  Fer4,  Tinstinct  sexuel,  p.  127.  (Paris, 
1899). 


32 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


In  reference  to  this,  a  custom  which  holds  among  the 
natives  of  the  Philippine  Islands  when  they  become  en- 
gaged, as  reported  by  Jagor,  is  remarkable.  When  it  be- 
comes necessary  for  an  engaged  pair  to  separate,  they  ex- 
change articles  of  wearing-apparel,  by  means  of  which  each 
becomes  assured  of  faithfulness.  These  objects  are  care- 
fully preserved,  covered  with  kisses,  and  smelled. 

The  love  of  certain  libertines  and  sensual  women  for 
perfumes^  indicates  a  relation  between  the  olfactory  and 
the  sexual  senses. 

A  case  mentioned  by  Heschl  ("Wiener  Zeitschrift  f. 
pract.  Heilkunde,"  22d  March,  1861)  is  remarkable, 
where  the  absence  of  both  olfactory  lobes  was  accompanied 
by  imperfectly  developed  genitals.  It  was  the  case  of  a 
man  aged  forty-five,  in  all  respects  well  developed,  with 
the  exception  of  the  testicles,  which  were  not  larger  than 
beans  and  contained  no  seminal  canals,  and  the  larynx, 
which  seemed  to  be  of  feminine  dimensions.  Every  trace 
of  olfactory  nerves  was  wanting,  and  the  trigona  olfactoria 
and  the  furrow  on  the  under  surface  of  the  anterior  lobes 
were  absent.  The  perforations  of  the  ethmoid  plate  were 
sparingly  present,  and  occupied  by  nerveless  processes  of 
the  dura  instead  of  by  nerves.  In  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  nose  there  was  also  an  absence  of  nerves. 

Finally,  the  clearly  defined  relation  of  the  olfactory 
and  sexual  senses  in  mental  diseases  is  worthy  of  notice, 
for  in  the  psychoses  of  both  sexes  superinduced  by  mas- 
turbation, as  well  as  in  insanity  due  to  disease  of  the 
female  organs,  or  during  the  climacterium,  olfactory  hal- 
lucinations are  especially  frequent,  while  in  cases  where 
a  sexual  cause  is  wanting  they  are  very  infrequent. 

I  am  inclined  to  doubt^  that,  under  normal  conditions, 
olfactory  impressions  in  man,  as  in  animals,  play  an  im- 
portant role  in  the  excitation  of  the  sexual  centre.  On 

^Cf.  LaycocJc^  who  ("Nervous  Diseases  of  Women,"  1840)  found 
that  in  women  the  love  for  musk  and  similar  perfumes  was  related 
to  sexual  excitement. 

*The  following  case,  reported  by  Binef,  seems  to  be  in  opposition 
to  this  idea.    Unfortunately  nothing  is  said  concerning  the  mental 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS. 


33 


account  of  the  importance  of  this  consensus  for  the  under- 
standing  of  pathological  cases,  it  is  necessary  here  to  thor- 
oughly consider  the  relations  existing  between  the  olfactory 
and  sexual  senses. 

With  reference  to  these  physiological  relations  it  may 
be  mentioned  as  an  interesting  fact  that  there  exists  a  cer- 
tain histological  conformity  between  the  nose  and  the 
genitals,  for  both  have  erectile  tissue  (likewise  the 
nipple). 

Interesting  physiological  and  clinical  observations  by 
J.  N.  Mackenzie  may  be  found  in  the  "Journal  of  Medical 
Science,^'  April,  1884.  He  finds:  (1)  that  in  certain 
women  with  normal  olfactory  organs  regularly  with  men- 
struation a  swelling  of  the  erectile  tissue  of  the  nose  oc- 
curs which  disappears  again  with  the  flooding;  (2)  that 
menstruation  is  at  times  replaced  by  epistaxis,  which  dis- 
appears when  the  uterine  flow  begins,  but  in  some  cases 
always  recurs  with  the  menstrual  functions;  (3)  irrita* 
tions  of  the  nasal  organs  such  as  violent  sneezing,  etc.,  oc- 
cur at  the  time  of  sexual  excitement;  (4)  Stimulation  of 
the  genital  tracts  is  occasioned  by  affections  of  the  nasal 
organs 

He  also  observes  that  nasal  affections  in  women  grow 
worse  during  the  time  of  menstruation;  that  venereal  ex- 
cesses produce  inflammation  of  the  Schneiderian  mem- 
brane, or  intensify  it  where  it  already  exists. 

He  also  points  out  that  masturbators  very  frequently 
suffer  from  nasal  disease,  are  troubled  with  abnormal  sen- 
sations of  olfaction,  and  are  subject  to  epistaxis.  Accord- 
ing to  his  experience  there  are  affections  of  the  nose  which 
stubbornly  resist  all  treatment  until  the  concomitant  (and 
causal)  genital  disease  is  removed. 

characteristics  of  the  person.  In  any  event,  it  is  certainly  confirma- 
tory of  the  relations  existing  between  the  olfactory  and  sexual 
senses: — 

D.,  a  medical  student,  was  seated  on  a  bench  in  a  public  park, 
reading  a  book  (on  pathology).  Suddenly  a  violent  erection  dis- 
turbed him.  He  looked  up  and  noticed  that  a  lady,  redolent  with 
perfume,  had  taken  a  seat  upon  the  other  end  of  the  bench.  D.  could 
attribute  the  erection  to  nothing  but  the  uiMJOnscious  olfactory  im- 
pression made  upon  him.  3 


34 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Other  interesting  observations  and  elucidations  about 
the  consensus  narium  et  genitalium  may  be  found  in  a  book 
by  i^Ziess  recently  published:  ^^Die  Beziehungen  zwischen 
iTase  und  weiblichen  Geschlechtsorganen/^  Vienna  (Deut- 
icke),  1897. — Cerviset,  contribut.  a  I'etude  du  tisses  erec- 
tile des  fosses  nasales.  These  de  Lyon  1887.  Joal,  revue 
mensuelle  de  laryngologie  1888  Fevr. — Peyer,  Miinch. 
med.  Wochenschr,  1889.  4; — Eudriss,  Dissertat.,  Wiirz- 
burg  1892. 

The  sexual  sphere  of  the  cerebral  cortex  may  be  ex- 
cited, in  the  sense  of  an  excitation  of  sexual  concepts  and 
impulses,  by  processes  in  the  generative  organs.  This  is 
possible  as  a  result  of  all  conditions  which  excite  the  erec- 
tion-centre by  means  of  centripetal  influence  (stimulus 
resulting  from  distension  of  the  seminal  vesicles ;  enlarged 
Graafian  follicles ;  any  sensory  stimulus,  however  produced, 
about  the  genitals;  hyperaemia  and  turgescence  of  the 
genitals,  especially  of  the  erectile  tissue  of  the  corpus 
cavernosum  of  the  penis  and  clitoris,  as  a  result  of  lux- 
urious, sedentary  life ;  plethora  abdominalis,  high  external 
temperature,  warm  beds,  clothing;  taking  of  cantharides, 
pepper  and  other  spices). 

Libido  sexualis  may  also  be  induced  by  stimulation  of 
the  gluteal  region  (castigation,  whipping).^ 

This  fact  is  important  for  the  proper  understanding  of 
certain  pathological  manifestations.  It  sometimes  happens 
that  in  boys  the  first  excitation  of  the  sexual  instinct  is 
caused  by  a  spanking,  and  they  are  thus  incited  to  mas- 
turbation. This  should  be  remembered  by  those  who  have 
the  care  of  children. 

On  account  of  the  dangers  to  which  this  form  of  pun- 
ishment of  children  gives  rise,  it  would  be  better  if  parents, 
teachers  and  nurses  were  to  avoid  it  entirely. 

Passive  flagellation  may  excite  sensuality,  as  is  shown 

^Meihomius,  "  De  flagiorum  usu  in  re  medica,"  London,  1765; 
Boileau,  "The  History  of  the  FlageUants,"  London,  1783;  Doppet, 
"  Aphrodisiaque  externe,"  Paris,  1788 ;  Cooper,  "  Der  FlageUantismus 
u.  d.  FlageUanten;  Hansen,  Stock  u.  Peitsche  in  xix.  Jahrhundert 
{Dohrn,  Dresden),  2  vols. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS. 


35 


by  the  sects  of  flagellants/  so  widespread  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries.  They  were  accustomed  to  whip 
themselves,  partly  as  an  atonement  and  partly  to  mortify 
the  flesh  (in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  chastity  pro- 
mulgated by  the  Church — i,  e.,  the  emancipation  of  the 
soul  from  sensuality). 

These  sects  were  at  first  favoured  by  the  Church ;  but, 
since  sensuality  was  only  the  more  excited  by  flagellation, 
and  this  fact  became  apparent  in  unpleasant  occurrences, 
the  Church  was  finally  compelled  to  oppose  it.  The  fol- 
lowing facts  from  the  lives  of  the  two  heroines  of  flagella- 
tion, Maria  Magdalena  of  Pazzi  and  Elizabeth  of  Genton, 
clearly  show  the  significance  of  flagellation  as  a  sexual  ex- 
citant. The  former,  the  daughter  of  distinguished  parents, 
was  a  Carmelite  nun  in  Florence  (about  1580),  and,  by 
her  flagellations,  and  still  more  through  the  results  obtained 
by  them,  she  became  quite  celebrated,  and  is  mentioned  in 
the  ^^Annals".  It  was  her  greatest  delight  to  have  her 
hands  bound  by  the  prioress  behind  her  back,  and  her 
naked  loins  whipped  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled 
sisters. 

But  the  whippings,  continued  from  her  earliest  youth, 
quite  destroyed  her  nervous  system,  and,  perhaps,  no  other 
heroine  of  flagellation  had  so  many  hallucinations  (^^Ent- 
ziickungen").  While  being  whipped  her  thoughts  were  of 
love.  The  inner  fire  threatened  to  consume  her,  and  she 
frequently  cried,  ^^Enough !  Fan  no  longer  the  flame  that 
consumes  me.  This  is  not  the  death  I  long  for ;  it  comes 
with  all  too  much  pleasure  and  delight."  Thus  it  con- 
tinued. But  the  spirit  of  impurity  wove  the  most  sensual 
lascivious  fancies,  and  she  was  several  times  near  losing 
her  chastity. 

It  was  the  same  with  Elizabeth  of  Genton.  As  a  result 
of  whipping  she  actually  passed  into  a  state  of  bacchanalian 
madness.    As  a  rule,  she  raved  when,  excited  by  unusual 

^Corvin,  Hist.  Denkmale  des  christlichen  Fanatismus,  II.,  Leip- 
Eig,  1847 ;  Foeretemmn,  Die  christlichen  Geisslergesellschaften,  Halle, 
1828. 


36 


PSYOHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


flagellation,  she  believed  herself  united  with  her  "ideal''. 
This  condition  was  so  exquisitely  pleasant  to  her  that  she 
would  frequently  cry  out,  "O  love,  0  eternal  love,  O  love, 
0  you  creatures !  cry  out  with  me :    ^Love,  Love !' '' 

It  is  known,  on  the  authority  of  Taxil  (op,  cit.,  p.  175), 
that  rakes  sometimes  have  themselves  flagellated,  or  pricked 
until  blood  flows,  just  before  the  sexual  act,  in  order  to 
stimulate  their  diminished  sexual  power. 

These  facts  find  an  interesting  confirmation  in  the 
following  experiences,  taken  from  Paullims  "Flagellum 
Salutis"  (1st  ed.,  1698;  reprint,  Stuttgart,  1847)  :— 

"There  are  some  nations,  viz.,  the  Persians  and  Rus- 
sians, where  the  women  regard  blows  as  a  peculiar  sign  of 
love  and  favour.  Strangely  enough,  the  Russian  women 
are  never  more  pleased  and  delighted  than  when  they  re- 
ceive hard  blows  from  their  husbands,  as  John  Barclarus 
relates  in  a  remarkable  narrative.  A  German,  named 
Jordan,  went  to  Russia,  and,  pleased  with  the  country, 
settled  there  and  took  a  Russian  wife,  whom  he  loved 
dearly,  and  to  whom  he  was  always  kind  in  everything. 
But  she  always  wore  an  expression  of  dissatisfactioxv,  and 
went  about  with  sighs  and  downcast  eyes.  The  husband 
asked  the  reason,  for  he  could  not  understand  what  was 
wrong.  ^Aye,'  she  said,  ^though  you  love  me,  you  do  not 
show  me  any  sign  of  it.'  He  embraced  her,  and  begged 
to  be  told  what  he  had  carelessly  and  unconsciously  done 
to  hurt  her  feelings,  and  to  be  forgiven,  for  he  would  never 
do  it  again.  want  nothing,'  was  the  answer,  ^but  what  is 
customary  in  our  country — ^the  whip,  the  real  sign  of  love.' 
When  Jordan  adopted  the  custom  his  wife  began  to  love 
him  dearly. 

Similar  stories  are  told  by  Peter  PetreuSy  of  Erlesund, 
who  adds  that  husbands,  immediately  after  the  wedding, 
among  other  indispensable  household  articles,  provide 
themselves  with  a  whip." 

On  page  73  of  this  remarkable  book,  the  author  says 
further :  ^The  celebrated  Count  of  Mirandula,  / ohn  Pious, 
relates  of  one  of  his  intimate  acquaintances  that  he  was 


PHYSIOLOGICAL  FACTS. 


37 


an  insatiable  fellow,  but  so  lazy  and  incapable  of  love 
that  he  was  practically  impotent  until  he  had  been  roughly 
handled.  The  more  he  tried  to  satisfy  his  desire,  the 
heavier  the  blows  he  needed,  and  he  could  not  attain  his 
desire,  unless  he  had  been  whipped  till  the  blood  came. 
For  this  purpose  he  had  a  suitable  whip  made,  which  was 
placed  in  vinegar  the  day  before  using  it.  He  would  give 
this  to  his  companion,  and  on  bended  knees  beg  her  not  to 
spare  him,  but  to  strike  blows  with  it,  the  heavier  the 
better.  The  good  count  thought  this  singular  man  found 
the  pleasure  of  love  in  this  punishment.  JSTot  being  a  bad 
man  in  other  respects  he  understood  and  hated  his  weak- 
ness.'^ 

Coelius  Bhodigin  relates  a  similar  story,  as  does  also 
the  celebrated  jurist,  Andreas  Tiraquell.  In  the  time  of 
the  skilful  physician,  Otten  Brunfelsen,  there  lived  in 
Munich,  then  the  capital  of  the  Bavarian  electorate,  a  de- 
bauchee who  could  never  perform  his  (sexual)  duties  with- 
out a  severe  preparatory  beating.  Thomas  Barthelin  knew 
a  Venetian,  who  had  to  be  beaten  and  driven  before  he 
could  have  intercourse,  just  as  reluctant  Cupid  was  driven 
by  his  followers  with  sprays  of  hyacinths.  A  few  years 
ago  there  was  in  Liibeck  a  cheesemonger,  living  on  Mill 
Street,  who,  on  a  complaint  to  the  authorities  of  unfaith- 
fulness, was  ordered  to  leave  the  city.  The  prostitute  with 
whom  he  had  been,  went  to  the  judges  and  begged  on  his 
behalf,  telling  how  difficult  all  intercourse  had  become  for 
him.  He  could  do  nothing  until  he  had  been  mercilessly 
beaten.  At  first  the  fellow,  from  shame  and  to  avoid  dis- 
grace, would  not  confess,  but  after  earnest  questioning  he 
could  not  deny  it.  There  is  said  to  have  been  a  man  in 
the  Netherlands  who  was  similarly  incapable,  and  could 
do  nothing  without  blows.  On  the  decree  of  the  authori- 
ties, however,  he  was  not  only  removed  from  his  position, 
but  also  severely  punished.  A  reliable  friend,  a  physician 
in  an  important  city  of  the  kingdom,  related  to  me  how  a 
woman  of  bad  character  had  told  a  companion,  who  had 
been  in  the  hospital  a  short  time  before,  that  she,  with 


38 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXXTALIS. 


another  woman  of  like  character,  had  been  sent  to  the 
woods  by  a  man  who  followed  them  there,  cut  rods  for 
them,  and  then  exposed  his  naked  buttocks,  commanded 
them  to  belabour  him  well.  They  obeyed,  and  it  is  easy 
to  conjecture  what  he  then  did  with  them.  'Not  only  men 
have  thus  been  excited  and  inflamed  to  lasciviousness,  but 
also  women,  that  they  too  might  experience  greater  in- 
tensity of  pleasure.^  For  this  reason  the  Roman  woman 
had  herself  whipped  and  beaten  by  the  lupercis.  Thus 
Juvenal  writes : — 

"  Steriles  moriuntur,  et  illis 
Turgida  non  prodest  condita  psycido  Lyde: 
Nec  prodest  agili  palmas  praebere  Luperco." 

In  men,  as  well  as  in  women,  erection  and  orgasm,  or 
even  ejaculation,  may  be  induced  by  irritation  of  various 
other  regions  of  the  skin  and  mucous  membrane.  These 
^^hyperaesthetic"  zones  in  woman  are,  while  she  is  a  virgin, 
the  clitoris,  and,  after  defloration,  the  vagina  and  cervix 
uteri. 

In  woman  the  nipple  particularly  seems  to  possess  this 
quality.  Titillatio  hujus  regionis  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  ars  erotica.  In  his  'Typographical  Anatomy,'^ 
1865,  Bd.  i.,  p.  552,  Hyrtl  cites  Val.  Hildenbrandt,  who 
observed  a  peculiar  anomaly  of  the  sexual  instinct  in  a 
girl,  which  he  called  sudusstupratio.  She  had  her  mammae 
sucked  by  her  lover,  and  after  a  while,  by  constantly  pull- 
ing her  nipples,  she  was  enabled  to  suck  them  herself,  an 
act  that  gave  her  most  intense  pleasure.  Hyrtl  also  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  cows  sometimes  suck  the  milk 
from  their  own  udders.  L.  Brunn  (^'Zeitg.  f.  Literatur,'' 
etc.,  d.  Hamburg,  Correspondent,  1889,  No.  21),  in  an  in- 
teresting article  on  ^'Sensuality  and  Love  of  Kin,'^  points 
mt  how  zealously  the  nursing  mother  gives  herself  to  the 
mursing  of  the  babe,  ''for  love  of  the  weak,  undeveloped, 
helpless  being'\ 

*It  is  a  common  proceeding  for  blasts  and  impotents  to  have 
themselves  whipped.  A  few  years  ago  much  noise  was  made  about 
one  such  amateur  who  died  whilst  being  whipped  by  several  women 
in  a  house  of  prostitution  at  Moscow.  (Ihankow,  Archives  d*  An- 
tbropol.  criminelle.  xiv.  p.  697). 


PHYSIOLOGICAL,  FACTS. 


39 


tt  is  easy  to  assume  that,  by  the  side  of  the  ethical 
motives,  the  fact  that  the  sucking  may  be  attended  by 
feelings  of  physical  pleasure  plays  a  part.  The  remark  of 
Brunn,  although  correct  in  itself,  but  one-sided,  that,  ac- 
cording to  Houzeaus  experience,  among  the  majority  of 
animals  the  relations  between  mother  and  offspring  are 
close  only  during  the  time  of  nursing,  and  thereafter  in- 
different, also  speaks  in  favour  of  this  assumption. 

Bastian  found  the  same  thing  (blunting  of  the  feeling 
for  the  offspring  after  weaning)  among  savages. 

Under  pathological  conditions,  as  is  shown  by  Cham- 
hard,  among  others,  in  his  thesis  for  the  doctorate,  other 
portions  of  the  body  (in  hysterical  persons)  about  the 
mammae  and  genitals  may  attain  the  significance  of  "hy- 
peraesthetic"  zones. 

In  man,  physiologically,  the  only  "hyperaesthetic''  zone 
is  the  glans  penis  and  perhaps  the  skin  of  the  external 
genitals. 

Under  pathological  conditions  the  anus  may  become 
a  ^^hyperaesthetic''  area.  Thus  anal  automasturbation, 
which  seems  to  be  only  too  frequent,  and  passive  pederasty 
would  be  explained.  {Cf.  Gamier ,  ^^Anomalies  sexuelles,*^ 
Paris,  p.  514;  A.  Moll,  ^^Contrare  Sexualempfindung,"  3rd 
ed.,  p.  369;  Frigerio,  "Archivio  di  Psichiatria,''  1893; 
Cristianij  ^^Archivio  delle  Psicopatie  sessuali,'^  p.  182,  "au- 
topederastia  in  un  alienato,  affetto  da  foUia  periodica".) 

The  psycho-physiological  process  comprehended  in  the 
idea  of  sexual  instinct  is  composed  of 

(1)  concepts  awakened  centrally  or  peripherally; 

(2)  the  pleasurable  feelings  associated  with  them. 
The  longing  for  sexual  satisfaction  (libido  sexualis) 

arises  from  them.  This  desire  grows  stronger  constantly 
in  proportion  as  the  excitation  of  the  cerebral  sphere  ac- 
centuates the  feeling  of  pleasure,  by  appropriate  concep- 
tions and  activity  of  the  imagination ;  and  the  pleasurable 
sensations  are  increased  to  lustful  feeling  by  excitation  of 
the  erection  centre  and  the  consequent  hyperaemia  of  the 


40 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


genitals  (entrance  of  liquor  prostaticus  into  the  urethra, 
etc.). 

If  circumstances  favour  the  satisfactory  performance 
of  the  sexual  act,  the  ever-increasing  desire  is  gratified ;  if, 
however,  conditions  are  unfavourable,  inhibition  occurs, 
checks  the  central  erectile  power,  and  prevents  the  sexual 
act. 

To  civilised  man  the  ready  presence  of  ideas  which 
inhibit  sexual  desire  is  of  distinct  import.  The  moral 
freedom  of  the  individual,  and  the  decision  whether,  under 
certain  circumstances,  excess,  and  even  crime,  be  committed 
or  not,  depend,  on  the  one  hand,  upon  the  strength  of  the 
instinctive  impulses  and  the  accompanying  organic  sen- 
sations; on  the  other,  upon  the  power  of  the  inhibitory 
ideas.  Constitution,  and  especially  organic  influences, 
have  a  marked  effect  upon  the  instinctive  impulses ;  educa- 
tion and  cultivation  of  self-control  counteract  the  opposing 
influences. 

The  exciting  and  inhibitory  powers  are  variable  quanti- 
ties. For  instance,  over-indulgence  in  alcohol  is  very  fatal 
in  this  respect,  since  it  awakens  and  increases  libido  sexu- 
ulisj  while  at  the  same  time  it  weakens  moral  resistance. 

The  Act  of  Cohabitation.^ 

The  essential  condition  for  the  man  is  sufficient  erec- 
tion. Anjel  (^'Arch.  fiir  Psych.,  viii.,  H.  2)  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  in  sexual  excitement  not  alone  the  erec- 
tion centre  is  influenced  but  the  nervous  excitement  is  dis- 
tributed over  the  entire  vasomotor  system  of  nerves.  The 
proof  of  this  is  the  turgescence  of  the  organs  in  the  sexual 
act,  injection  of  the  conjunctiva,  prominence  of  the  eye- 
balls, dilation  of  the  pupils,  cardiac  palpitation  (resulting 
from  paralysis  of  the  vasomotor  nerves  of  the  heart,  which 
arise  from  the  cervical  sympathetic,  and  the  resulting  dila- 
tion of  the  cardiac  arteries,  and  the  increased  stimulation 
of  the  cardiac  ganglia  induced  by  the  consequent  hype- 

^Cf,  Rouhaud,  "  Traits  de  rimpuissance  et  de  la  et^rilit^,"  Paria. 
1878. 


THE  ACT  OF  COHABITATION. 


4:1 


rsemia  of  the  cardiac  walls).  The  sexual  act  is  accom- 
panied by  a  pleasurable  feeling,  which,  in  the  male,  is 
evoked  by  the  passage  of  semen  through  the  ductus  ejacu- 
latorii  to  the  urethra,  in  consequence  of  the  sensory  stimula- 
tion of  the  genitals.  This  pleasurable  sensation  occurs 
earlier  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  grows  rapidly  in 
intensity  up  to  the  moment  of  commencing  ejaculation, 
reaches  its  acme  in  the  instant  of  free  emission,  and  disap- 
pears quickly  post  ejaculationem. 

In  the  female  the  pleasurable  feeling  occurs  later  and 
comes  on  more  slowly,  and  generally  outlasts  the  act  of 
ejaculation. 

The  distinctive  event  in  coitus  is  ejaculation.  This 
function  is  dependent  on  a  centre  (genito-spinal),  which 
Budge  has  shown  to  be  situated  at  the  level  of  the  fourth 
lumbar  vertebra.  It  is  a  reflex  centre.  The  stimulus  that 
excites  it,  is  the  ejection  of  semen  from  the  vesiculce  semi- 
notes  into  the  pars  membranacea  urethrce,  a  reflex  effect 
of  stimulation  of  the  glans  penis.  As  soon  as  the  coUec- 
tion  of  semen,  with  ever-increasing  pleasurable  sensation, 
has  reached  a  sufficient  amount  to  be  effectual  as  a  stimu* 
lus  of  the  ejaculation-centre,  this  centre  acts.  The  reflex 
motor  path  lies  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  lumbar  nerves.  The 
action  consists  of  a  convulsive  excitation  of  the  bulbo- 
cavernosus  muscle  (innervated  by  the  third  and  fourth 
sacral  nerves),  which  forces  the  semen  out. 

In  the  female  as  well,  at  the  height  of  sexual  and 
pleasurable  excitement,  a  reflex  movement  occurs.  It  is 
induced  by  stimulation  of  the  sensory  genital  nerves  and 
consists  of  a  peristaltic  movement  in  the  tubes  and  uterus 
as  far  down  as  the  portio  vaginalisy  which  presses  out  the 
mucous  secretions  of  the  tubes  and  uterus.  Inhibition 
of  the  ejaculation  centre  is  possible  as  a  result  of  cortical 
influence  (want  of  desire  in  coitus,  emotions  in  general, 
influence  of  the  will). 

Under  normal  conditions,  with  the  completion  of  the 
sexual  act,  libido  sexualis  and  erection  disappear,  and  the 
psychical  and  sexual  excitement  gives  place  to  a  comfort- 
able feeling  of  lassitude. 


III.    ANTHROPOLOGICAL  FACTS.^ 


Every  individual  whose  sexual  development  has  been 
in  accordance  with  the  normal  process,  represents  physical 
and  metaphysical  attributes  which,  as  experience  shows, 
are  typical  of  the  sex  to  which  the  individual  belongs. 
These  sexual  characteristics  are  either  primary  (sexual 
glands  and  organs  of  propagation)  or  secondary.  The  latter 
are  bodily  and  psychical  and  are  developed  only  during  the 
period  of  puberty.  Now  and  then  cases  of  precocious  as 
well  as  retarded  sexual  development  are  reported.  As  a 
rule  they  may  be  found  to  be  due  to  abnormal  evolutionary 
conditions  in  them,  chiefly  in  individuals  with  a  heavy  neu- 
rotic taint. 

The  secondary  sexual  characteristics  differentiate  the 
two  sexes ;  they  present  the  specific  male  and  female  types. 
The  higher  the  anthropological  development  of  the  race, 
the  stronger  these  contrasts  between  man  and  woman,  and 
vice  versa. 

Important  somatic  secondary  sexual  characteristics  are, 
the  skull,  skeleton,  pelvis  (particularly),  facial  types,  hair, 
larynx  (voice),  mammae,  thighs,  etc. 

Important  psychical  characteristics  are  sexual  con- 
sciousness (i.e,y  the  knowledge  of  a  special  sexual  indi- 
viduality as  man  or  woman)  and  a  congruous  sexual  in- 
stinct, from  both  of  which  a  long  series  of  special  features 
and  individual  peculiarities  are  evolved,  such  as  psychical 
dispositions,  inclinations,  etc. 

This  differentiation  of  the  sexes  and  the  development 
of  sexual  types  is  evidently  the  result  of  an  infinite  suc- 

^Bardach,  Die  Physiologie  als  Erfahrungswissenschaft,  1826-40; 
Ploss,  Das  Weib,  1891,  3d  edition;  A.  Moll^  Die  contrare  Sexualem- 
pfindung,  3d  ed.  p.  3;  Idem,  Untersuchungen  liber  die  Libido  sexualis, 
1897-98. 

(42) 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL.  FACTS. 


43 


cession  of  intermediary  stages  of  evolution.  The  primary- 
stage  undoubtedly  was  bi-sexuality,  such,  as  still  exists  in 
the  lowest  classes  of  animal  life  and  also  during  the  first 
months  of  foetal  existence  in  man.  The  type  of  the  present 
stage  of  evolution  is  mono-sexuality,  that  is  to  say,  a  con- 
gruous development  of  the  secondary  bodily  and  psychical 
sexual  characteristics  belonging  to  the  respective  sexual 
glands. 

Observation  teaches  that  the  pure  type  of  the  man  or 
the  woman  is  often  enough  missed  by  nature,  that  is  to  say 
that  certain  secondary  male  characteristics  are  found  in 
woman  and  vice  versa,  to  wit,  men  with  an  inclination  for 
female  occupations  (embroidery,  toilet,  etc.),  and  women 
with  a  decided  predilection  for  manly  sports  (without  the 
influencing  elements  of  early  education).  In  both  in- 
stances particular  cleverness  in  the  inverted  and  pro- 
nounced awkwardness  in  the  originally  proper  occupation 
will  be  noticed.  In  this  class  belong  castrates,  women  with 
a  bass  voice  (abnormal  development  of  the  larynx),  a 
narrow  pelvis,  a  beard,  undevelopment  of  the  mammae, 
etc. 

Of  special  scientific  interest  are  the  cases  of  Gynce- 
comoMy,  i,e,^  the  development  of  mammae  in  the  male  in- 
dividual, with  concomitant  inhibited  development  of  the 
testicles  during  the  period  of  puberty.  Galen  described  and 
named  this  anomaly.  Laurent's  monograph^  on  this  sub- 
ject is  worthy  of  mention. 

As  a  rule  the  gynecomast  is  slender  in  build,  has  a 
smooth  face  and  stunted  testicles,  is  devoid  of  the  secondary 
sexual  characteristics  of  the  man,  has  but  little  sexual  de- 
sire for  the  opposite  sex,  is  in  short  a  sort  of  a  man-woman 
of  moral  and  metaphysical  inferiority. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Gynecomasty  only  occurs 
in  neurotically  degenerated  families,  and  must  be  looked 
upon  as  the  manifestation  of  an  anatomical  and  functional 
degeneration. 

^Laurent:^  les  bisexu^s,  Paris,  1894;  Idem,  de  rh6r6dit§  des 
<5yn6comastes.   Annales  d'hygiene,  pubL  1890. 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Castration  never  produces  Gynecomasty,  m  whicli  the 
glandular  tissue  but  rarely  develops,  whilst  the  nipple  be- 
comes erogenous  and  capable  of  erection  as  in  woman.  Lac- 
tation has  but  seldom  been  observed.  With  involution  even 
the  mammae  disappear.  The  true  Oynecomast  betrays 
signs  of  effemination — ^the  voice  is  soft  and  has  a  high 
pitch,  the  hair  on  the  mons  veneris  is  that  of  a  woman,  the 
skin  is  soft,  the  pelvis  wide,  potency  though  weak  is  yet 
heterosexual  and  libido  is  wanting.  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  in  these  cases  through  the  interruption  of  evolutionary 
processes  the  sexual  characteristics  of  the  man  have  been 
replaced  by  those  of  the  woman  and  that  by  this  substitu- 
tion the  development  also  of  other  physical  and  psychical 
sexual  characteristics  has  been  influenced  in  the  sense  of 
inversion.  The  possible  combinations,  of  course,  vary 
greatly.^ 

An  interesting  and  important  question  now  arises,  viz. : 
^^What  determines  the  development  of  an  individual  of 
that  definite  sexual  type  which  possesses  all  the  character- 
istics of  a  man,  or  a  woman 

One  is  tempted  to  look  upon  the  development  of  the 
genital  glands  as  the  determining  factor  which  may  be 
recognized  even  in  the  apparently  bisexual  foetus.  For 
the  primary  sexual  characteristics  in  the  form  of  the  sexual 
organs  are  present  and  may  be  with  puberty  developed  into 
the  secondary  sexual  characteristics. 

That  the  sexual  glands  are  important  so  far  as  the  sex 
itself  is  concerned  is  hardly  open  to  controversy,  but  they 
are  not  necessarily  the  determining  factor.  For  we  shall 
see  later  on  that  the  secondary  characteristics  (sexual  sen- 
sations, attraction  by  the  physical  and  psychical  properties 
of  the  opposite  sex,  and  the  instinct  to  have  sexual  inter- 
course with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex)  may  be  inverted 
even  at  the  very  beginning  of  sexual  development. 

Again  the  experience  of  gynecologists  allows  of  the  fol- 
lowing deductions:  Hegar  (NothnageFs  Pathologic,  xx. 
Part  I.,  p.  371)  points  out: 

(1)  that  despite  of  congenital  defects  and  rudimentary 


ANTHEOPOLOGICAL  FACTS. 


45 


development  of  the  ovaries  the  feminine  type  may  be  thor- 
oughly preserved ; 

(2)  that  the  female  sexual  characteristics  are  relatively 
independent  of  the  ovaries  as  is  proved  by  transverse 
Hermaphroditism.  The  old  axiom  ^Tropter  solum  ovari- 
um mulier  est  quod  est/'  therefore  falls. 

The  sex-determining  momentum  is  unknown. 

The  form  of  the  sexual  glands  is  therefore  not  the  quali- 
fying element  of  sex-determination,  but  we  must  look 
rather  to  sexual  sensations  and  the  sexual  instinct. 

AH  this  directs  our  attention  to  the  central  domains  of 
that  nervous  plexus  which  dominates  the  sexual  fimctions 
and  which  renders  intermediary  sexual  gradations  between 
the  pure  type  of  man  and  woman  possible,  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  the  original  bisexual  predisposition  of  the  foetus. 
These  grades  may  be  due  to  some  interference  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  our  present  mono-sexuality  (corresponding  physical 
and  psychical  sexual  characteristics)  based  upon  degener- 
ative, especially  hereditary  degeneration  conditions. 

The  science  of  to-day  can  boast  of  but  little  positive 
knowledge  about  the  evolutionary  influence  which  the  va- 
rious departments  of  the  sexual  apparatus  exercise  upon 
each  other.  It  is  natural  that  we  should  study  the  influ- 
ence exercised  by  the  removal  or  total  loss  of  the  sexual 
glands  upon  the  development  or  course  of  the  vita  sexualis. 
That  such  an  influence  exists  cannot  be  doubted;  but  the 
extent  of  the  controlling  power  of  peripheral  factors  might 
largely  depend  on  whether  the  elimination  of  the  sexual 
glands  took  place  before  or  after  the  development  of  pu- 
berty ;  and  again  due  regard  must  be  given  to  the  fact  that 
the  rise  of  psychical  sexual  characteristics  may  have  con- 
siderably preceded  physical  development.  Facts  seem  to 
prove  that  with  the  loss  of  the  genital  glands  previous  to 
puberty  the  development  of  somatic  and  psychical  sexual 
characteristics  is  stunted  even  unto  Asexuality,  This  is 
true  as  to  the  male  and  female  of  the  human  kind  as  well  as 
of  domestic  animals. 

Matters  are  different  if  the  injury  occurs  after  this  bio- 


46 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


logical  phase.  Here  we  are  bound  to  find  physical  as  well 
as  psychical  characteristics  already  existing,  but  their 
further  development  becomes  stunted.  The  manner  in 
which  these  organs  succumb  (through  illness  or  surgical 
interference)  is  of  no  import,  neither  is  the  sex  itself.  The 
only  condition  needed  is  that  the  development  of  the  sec- 
ondary sexual  characteristics  had  already  begun  as  this  is 
plainly  dependent  upon  central  spheres.  How  far  then 
sexual  development  will  go,  depends  chiefly  upon  the  con- 
dition and  the  developing  powers  of  these  central  factors; 
whilst  its  direction  is  governed  by  the  biological  energy  of 
these  bisexually  predisposed  centres. 

If  the  development  ran  hitherto  in  heterosexual  chan- 
nels, but  was  lacking  in  force,  the  sex  experiences  simply 
a  check ;  but  if  the  original  bisexual  predisposition  had  not 
yet  received  a  definite  sexual  direction,  and  possessed 
strength,  sexual  characteristics  of  the  opposite  sex  and 
under  circumstances  even  of  an  inverted  nature  may  un- 
fold. In  most  cases  there  is  but  a  partial  development  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  opposite  sex. 

Analogous  experiences  are  made  in  cases  in  which  the 
sexual  glands  were  lost  long  after  matured  puberty.  For 
instance,  bearded  women  are  frequently  found  in  the  post 
mortem^  minus  ovaries  (Diet,  de  med.  et  de  chirurg.  prat, 
art.  ^^ovario").  In  a  similar  manner  pheasant  hens  are 
found  with  degenerated  ovaries,  but  with  the  plumage  and 
voice  of  the  male.^  (Discuss,  de  la  societe  zoologique  de 
Londres). 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  many  women  grow  a  beard 
after  the  climacterium  and  that  the  voice  drops  to  a  lower 
register.  If  the  climax  be  reached  very  early  and  vitality 
remains  very  strong  even  another  (opposite)  sex  may  be 
developed.    See  page  247  and  cases  128  and  129. 

A  smart  difference  may  also  be  found  in  eunuchs,  ac- 
cording to  whether  castration  took  place  before  or  after 

^Cf,  Moll,  Libido  sexualis,  p.  335-350,  where  he  gives  a  large 
number  of  cases  of  perverted  sexual  characteristics,  of  a  physical  as 
well  as  psychical  nature,  even  of  sexual  inversion. 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  I^aCTS. 


47 


psychical  puberty.  In  the  latter  case  the  vita  sexualis  is 
by  no  means  a  blank  page  for  sexual  feeling,  and  sexual 
instinct  for  the  opposite  sex  are  present,  although  physical 
and  psychical  sexual  characteristics  of  the  male  are  stunted 
and  f  emininism  may  take  its  place. 

In  rare  cases — apparently  in  strongly  developed  bi- 
sexuality — signs  of  inverted  sexuality  may  appear  {Bedors 
case  in  Cadiz  of  a  eunuch  with  developed  mammae). 

These  facts  are  not  in  favour  of  the  exclusive  effects 
exercised  by  the  sexual  glands  upon  the  development  of  the 
vita  sexualis,  especially  of  the  psychical  sexual  character- 
istics, which  no  doubt  belong  to  those  central  spheres  which 
normally  come  into  functional  force  with  arriving  puberty 
and  thus  determine  the  essential  criterion  of  the  sex  (sex- 
ual instinct). 


IV.    GENEEAL  PATHOLOGY/ 

(nEUEOLOGICAL  and  PSYOHOLOaiCAL.) 

AjStomalies  of  the  sexual  functions  are  met  with  especially 
in  civilised  races.  This  fact  is  explained  in  part  by  the 
frequent  abuse  of  the  sexual  organs,  and  in  part  by  the 
circumstance  that  such  functional  anomalies  are  chiefly 
the  signs  of  an  inherited  diseased  condition  of  the  central 
nervous  system  (^Afunctional  signs  of  degeneration"). 

^Literature :  Parent -Duchatelet,  "  Prostitution  dans  la  villa  de 
Paris,"  1837.  Rosenhanim,  "  Entstehung  der  Syphilis,"  Halle,  1839— 
also,  "  Die  Lustseuche  im  Alterthum,"  Halle,  1839.  Descuret,  "  La 
m§d6cine  des  Passions,"  Paris,  1860.  Caspar,  "  Kiin.  Novellen," 
1860.  Bastia/n,  "  Der  Mensch  in  der  Geschichte  ".  Friedldnder,  "  Sit- 
tengeschichte  Roms  ".  Wiedemeisterf  "  Casarenwahnsinn  ".  Scherr, 
"Deutsche  Kultur  und  Sittengeschichte,"  Bd.  i.,  cap.  ix.  Jeannel, 
"Die  Prostitution,"  deutsch  von  Miiller,  Erlangen,  1869.  v.  Krafft, 
"  Neue  Forschungen  auf  dem  Gebiete  der  Psychopathia  sexualis," 
2  Aufl.,  Stuttgart,  1891.  Taxil,  "  La  Prostitution  contemporaine," 
Paris,  1884.  Frank  Lydston,  "  Philadelph.  Med.  and  Surg.  Reports, 
1889.  Urquhardt,  Journal  of  Mental  Science,  Jan.  1891.  Antonini, 
"Archiv.  di  Psichiatria,"  xxi.,  1,  2.  Ca/ntara/no,  Zeitschr.  "La  Psi- 
chiatria,"  v.,  2,  3.  Krauss,  "  Psychologie  des  Verbrechens,"  1884. 
Kiernan,  "Medic.  Standard,"  Nov.,  1889.  Delcourt,  "Le  Vice  a 
Paris,"  1889.  Lomhroso,  "  L'uomo  Delinquente,"  2  Aufl.,  1878.  Toul- 
mouche,  "  Annal.  d'hygi^ne,"  1868.  Giraldds  et  Horteloup,  ibidem, 
1876,  p.  419.  Eulenhurg,  "  Klin.  Handb.  d.  Ham-  und  Sexualorgane," 
1894,  4  Abthl.,  p.  36.  Moll,  "  Untersuchungen  iiber  die  Libido  sex- 
ualis,"  1897;  "  Archivio  delie  psicopatie  sessuali,"  Naples  (1896) 
volume  unico.  Tardieu,  "  Des  attentats  aux  moeurs,"  7  6dit.,  1878. 
Emminghaus,  "  Psychopathol.,"  pp.  98,  225,  230,  232.  Schule,  "Hand- 
buch  der  Geisteskrankheiten,"  p.  114.  Marc,  "Die  Geisteskrankheiten," 
ii.,  p.  128.  V,  Krafft,  "  Lehrb.  d.  Psychiatrie,  6  Aufl.  i.,  p.  77; 
"Lehrb.  d.  ger.  Psychopathol.,"  3  Aufl.,  p.  279;  "Archiv  f.  Psychi- 
atrie," vii.,  2.  Moreau,  "  Des  aberrations  du  sens  g^n^sique,"  Paris, 
1880.  Kirn,  "  Allg.  Zeitschr.  f.  Psychiatrie,"  39,  Heft  2  u.  3.  Lom- 
}>roso,  "  Geschlechtstrieb  und  Verbrechen  in  ihren  gegenseitigen  Bezie- 
hungen".  (Goltdammer's  "Archiv."  Bd.  30).  Tarnowsky,  "Die  krank- 
haften  Erscheinungen  des  Geschlechtssinnes,"  Berlin,  1886.  Ball,  "  La 

(48) 


gPlNAt  NEUROSES. 


40 


Since  the  generative  organs  stand  in  important  func- 
tional relation  to  the  entire  nervous  system,  and  especially 
to  its  psychical  and  somatic  functions,  the  frequency  of 
general  neuroses  and  psychoses  arising  in  sexual  (func- 
tional or  organic)  disturbances,  is  easy  to  understand. 

SCHEDULE  OF  THE  SEXUAL  NEUEOSES. 

I.  Peripheral. 
1.  Sensory. 

(a)  Ansesthesia;  (h)  Hypersesthesia ;  (c)  IsTeuralgia. 
2.  Secretory. 
(a)  Aspermia;  (6)  Polyspermia. 
3.  Motor. 

(a)  Pollutions  (spasm);  (b)  Spermatorrhoea  (paralysis). 
II.     Spinal  N^euroses. 
1.     Ajfections  of  the  Erection  Centre. 

(a)  Irritation  (priapism)  arises  from  reflex  action  of 
peripheral  sensory  irritants  (e.g.,  gonorrhoea)  ;  directly, 
from  organic  irritation  of  the  nerve-tracts  leading  from 
the  brain  to  the  erection  centre  (spinal  disease  in  the  lower 
cervical  and  upper  dorsal  regions),  or  of  the  centre  itself 
(certain  poisons)  ;  or  from  psychical  irritation. 

In  the  latter  case  satyriasis  exists,  i.  e.,  abnormal  dura- 

folie  6rotique,"  Paris,  1888.  Serieux,  "  Recherclies  cliniques  sur  lea 
anomalies  de  Tinstinct  sexuel/'  Paris,  1888.  Hammond^  "  Sexual 
Impotence,"  1889.  v.  Krafft,  "  iiber  sexuale  Perversionen."  Leyden's 
deutsche  Klinik,  1901,  vi.  v,  Schrenk-Notzing,  Die  Suggestionsthera- 
pie,  1892;  also,  Zeitsch.  fiir  Hypnotismus,  vii.,  H.  1  &  2,  viii.,  H.  1. 
(Literatur.)  Moll,  die  contrare  Sexualempfindung,  3  Aufl.  1889;  also, 
Untersuchungen  lib.  d.  Libido  sexualis,  1897-98.  Eirschfeld,  Jahrb. 
f.  sexuelle  Zwischenstufen,  Jahrg.  i.-iv.  Block,  Beitrage  z.  Aetiologie 
der  Psycbopathia  sexualis,  ii.,  Theil,  1903. 

Among  modern  novelists  who  deal  with  the  subject  of  sexual  per- 
version the  French  are  most  pre-eminent,  vis:.:  Catulle  Mendes,  P4la- 
dcm,  Lemonnier,  Dubut  de  la  Forest  ("L'homme  de  joie"),  Huysr 
mans  ("La  bas"),  Zola. 


50 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


tion  of  erection,  with  libido  sexualis.  In  reflex  or  direct 
organic  irritation,  libido  sexualis  may  be  wanting,  and  the 
priapism  may  even  give  rise  to  disgust. 

(fe)  Paraylsis  arises  from  the  destruction  of  the  centre, 
or  of  the  nerve-tracts  (nervi  erigentes),  in  diseases  of  the 
spinal  cord  (paralytic  impotence). 

A  milder  form  is  that  of  lessened  excitability  of  the 
centre,  resulting  from  over-stimulation  (sexual  excess, 
especially  onanism),  or  from  alcoholic  intoxication,  abuse 
of  bromides,  etc.  It  may  also  originate  from  cerebral 
anaesthesia,  or  that  of  the  external  genitals.  Cerebral 
hypersesthesia  is  more  frequent  in  such  cases  (increased 
libido  sexualis,  lust). 

A  peculiar  form  of  diminished  excitability  is  shown  in 
those  cases  where  the  centre  responds  only  to  certain  stimu- 
li. Thus  there  are  men  to  whom  sexual  contact  with  their 
virtuous  wives  does  not  supply  the  necessary  stimulus  for 
an  erection,  but  in  whom  it  occurs  when  the  act  is  at- 
tempted with  a  prostitute,  or  in  the  form  of  some  unnatural 
sexual  act.  So  far  as  psychical  stimuli  are  concerned,  they 
may  be  inadequate  (^v.  infra,  parsesthesia  and  perversion  of 
sexual  instinct). 

(c)  Inhibition.  The  erection  centre  may  become  in- 
capable of  function  through  cerebral  influence.  This  in- 
hibitory influence  is  an  emotional  process  (disgust,  fear 
of  contagion),  or  fear^  of  impotence.  There  are  men  who 
have  an  imconquerable  antipathy  to  woman,  or  fear  of 
infection,  or  are  suffering  with  perverse  sexual  instinct. 
In  the  latter  condition  are  those  neuropathic  individuals 
(neurasthenics,  hypochondriacs),  frequently  weakened  sex- 
ually (masturbators),  who  have  reason,  or  think  they  have, 
to  mistrust  their  sexual  power.    This  idea  acts  as  an  in- 

^An  interesting  instance  of  how  an  imperative  conception  of 
non-sexual  content  can  exert  an  influence  is  related  by  Magna/n 
("Ann.  Med.  Psych.,"  1885)  :  Student,  aged  twenty-one,  strongly  pre- 
disposed hereditarily,  previously  a  masturbator,  constantly  struggles 
with  the  number  thirteen  as  an  imperative  conception.  As  soon  as 
he  attempts  coitus  the  imperative  idea  inhibits  erection  and  renders 
the  act  impossible. 


SPINAL  KEUKOSES. 


51 


hibitory  impulse,  and  makes  the  act  with  the  person  of  the 
opposite  sex  temporarily  or  absolutely  impossible. 

{d)  Irritable  Weakness.  In  this  condition  there  is 
abnormal  impressionability  of  the  centre,  but  accompanied 
by  rapid  diminution  of  its  energy.  There  may  be  func- 
tional disturbance  of  the  centre  itself,  or  weakness  of  the 
innervation  through  the  nervi  erigentes;  or  there  may  be 
weakness  of  the  erector  penis  muscle.  Cases  in  which  erec- 
tion is  abortive  on  account  of  abnormally  early  ejaculation, 
form  a  transition  to  the  following  anomalies : — 

2.    Affections  of  the  Ejaculation  Centre. 

(a)  Abnormally  easy  ejaculation  from  absence  of 
cerebral  inhibition,  resulting  from  excessive  psychical  ex- 
citement or  irritable  weakness  of  the  centre.  In  this  case, 
under  certain  circumstances,  the  simple  conception  of  a 
lascivious  situation  is  sufficient  to  set  the  centre  in  action 
(high  degree  of  spinal  neurasthenia,  usually  resulting  from 
sexual  abuse).  A  third  possibility  is  hypersesthesia  of  the 
urethra,  by  virtue  of  which  the  escaping  semen  induces 
an  immediate  and  excessive  reflex  action  of  the  ejaculation 
centre.  In  such  cases  simple  proximity  to  the  female 
genitals  may  be  sufficient  to  induce  ejaculation  (ante 
port  am). 

In  cases  of  hypersesthesia  of  the  urethra  (as  a  cause), 
ejaculation  may  be  accompanied  by  painful,  instead  of 
pleasurable  sensations.  Usually  in  cases  where  there  is 
hypersesthesia  of  the  urethra,  there  is  at  the  same  time 
irritable  weakness  of  the  centre.  Both  these  functional 
disturbances  are  important  in  the  production  of  pollutio 
nimia  and  diurna. 

The  accompanying  pleasurable  feeling  may  be  patho- 
logically absent.  This  occurs  in  defective  men  and  women 
(anaesthesia,  aspermia?),  and,  further,  as  a  result  of  dis- 
ease (neurasthenia,  hysteria)  ;  or  (in  prostitutes)  it  fol- 
lows over-stimulation  and  the  blunting  this  induced.  The 
intensity  of  the  pleasurable  feeling  accompanying  the 


52 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sexual  act  depends  on  the  degree  of  psychical  and  motor 
excitement.  Under  pathological  conditions  this  may 
become  so  prononncedj  that  the  movements  of  coitus 
assume  the  character  of  involuntary  convulsive  actions, 
and  even  pass  into  general  convulsions. 

(&)  Abnormally  difficvilt  ejaculation.  It  is  occasioned 
by  inexcitability  of  the  centre  (absence  of  libido,  paralysis 
of  the  centre:  organic,  from  disease  of  brain  or  spinal 
cord;  functional,  from  sexual  abuses,  marasmus,  diabetes, 
morj)hinism ) ,  and,  in  this  case,  for  the  most  part,  in  con- 
nection with  anaesthesia  of  the  genitals  and  paralysis  of  the 
erection  centre.  Or,  it  is  the  result  of  a  lesion  of  the  reflex 
arc  or  of  peripheral  anaesthesia  (urethra),  or  of  aspermia. 
The  ejaculation  occurs  either  not  at  all,  or  tardily,  in  the 
course  of  the  sexual  act,  or  only  afterward,  in  the  form  of 
a  pollution. 

III.  Cerebral  IvTeurgses. 

(1)  Paradoxia,  i.e.,  sexual  excitement  occurring  inde- 
pendently of  the  period  of  the  physiological  processes  in 
the  generative  organs. 

(2)  Ancesthesia  (absence  of  sexual  instinct).  Here  all 
organic  impulses  arising  from  the  sexual  organs,  as  well 
as  all  impulses,  and  visual,  auditory  and  olfactory  sense 
impressions  fail  to  sexually  excite  the  individual.  This  is 
a  physiological  condition  in  childhood  and  old  age. 

(3)  Hypercesthesia  (increased  desire,  satyriasis).  In 
this  state  there  is  an  abnormally  increased  impressionabil- 
ity of  the  vita  sexualis  to  organic,  psychical  and  sensory 
stimuli  (abnormally  intense  libido,  lustfulness,  lascivious- 
ness).  The  stimulus  may  be  central  (nymphomania, 
satyriasis)  or  peripheral,  functional  or  organic. 

(4)  Parcesthesia  (perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct,  i.e., 
excitability  of  the  sexual  functions  to  inadequate  stimuli). 

Sub-divisions  of  parcesthesia  are : 

(a)  Sadism,.  It  consists  in  this  that  the  association 
of  lust  and  cruelty,  which  is  indicated  in  the  physiological 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES. 


53 


consciousness,  becomes  strongly  marked  on  a  psychically 
degenerated  basis,  and  that  this  lustful  impulse  coupled 
with  presentations  of  cruelty  rises  to  the  height  of  power- 
ful affects.  This  generates  a  force  that  seeks  to  mate- 
rialise these  presentations  of  fancy,  and  which  is  ac- 
complished when  hypersesthesia  supervenes  as  a  compli- 
cation, or  inhibitory  moral  counter-presentations  fail  to 
act. 

The  quality  of  sadistic  acts  is  defined  by  the  relative 
potency  of  the  tainted  individual.  If  potent,  the  impulse 
of  the  sadist  is  directed  to  coitus,  coupled  with  prepar- 
atory, concomitant  or  consecutive  maltreatment,  even 
murder,  of  the  cOnsort  {''Lust  murder  the  latter  oc- 
curring chiefly  because  sensual  lust  has  not  been  satisfied 
Avith  the  consummated  coitus. 

If  the  sadist  is  psychically  or  spinally  impotent,  as  an 
equivalent  of  coitus,  there  will  be  noticed  strangling,  stab- 
bing, flagellating  (of  women),  or  imder  circumstances 
ridiculously  silly  and  mean,  acts  of  violence  on  the  other 
person  (symbolical  sadism) ,  or  also — faute  de  mieux — 
on  any  living  and  feeling  object  (whipping  of  school 
children,  recruits,  apprentices,  cruel  acts  on  animals, 
etc.). 

(b)  Masochism  is  the  counterpart  of  sadism  in  so  far 
as  it  derives  the  acme  of  pleasure  from  reckless  acts  of 
violence  at  the  hands  of  the  consort.  It  springs  from  the 
impulse  to  create  a  situation  by  means  of  external  phy- 
sical force,  which  is  in  accordance  with  the  individual 
psychical  and  spinal  stage  of  potency,  as  a  preparatory 
and  concomitant  means  to  experience  the  voluptuous  sen- 
sation of  coitus,  to  increase  it  or  to  make  it  a  substitute 
for  cohabitation.  In  direct  ratio  of  the  intensity  of  the 
perverse  instinct  and  the  remaining  power  of  moral  and 
aesthetic  counter  motives,  it  forms  a  gradation  of  the  most 
abhorrent  and  monstrous  to  the  most  ludicrous  and  absurd 
acts  (the  request  for  personal  castigation,  humiliations  of 
all  sorts,  passive  flagellation,  etc.). 

(a)  Fetichism  invests  imaginary  presentations  of  sep- 


54 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


arate  parts  of  the  body  or  portions  of  raiment  of  the  op- 
posite sex,  or  even  simply  pieces  of  clothing-material,  with 
voluptuous  sensations.  The  pathological  aspect  of  this 
manifestation  may  be  deduced  from  the  fact  that  fetichism 
of  parts  of  the  body  never  stands  in  direct  relation  to  sex, 
that  it  concentrates  the  whole  sexual  interest  in  the  one 
part  abstracted  from  the  entire  body. 

As  a  rule,  when  the  individual  fetish  is  absent  coitus 
becomes  impossible  or  can  only  be  managed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  respective  imaginary  presentation,  and  even 
then  grants  no  gratification.  Its  pathological  condition  is 
strongly  accentuated  by  the  circumstance  that  the  f  etichist 
does  not  find  gratification  in  coitus  itself,  but  rather  in 
the  manipulation  of  that  portion  of  the  body  or  that  object 
which  forms  the  interesting  and  effective  fetich. 

The  fetich  varies  individually  and  is,  no  doubt,  occa- 
sioned by  some  incident  which  determines  the  relation  be- 
tween a  single  impression  and  the  voluptuous  feeling. 

(d)  Antipathic  Sexuality  is  the  total  absence  of  sex- 
ual feeling  toward  the  opposite  sex.  It  concentrates  all 
sexuality  in  its  own  sex.  The  physical  and  psychical 
properties  of  persons  of  the  same  sex  alone  exercise  an 
aphrodisic  effect  and  awaken  a  desire  for  sexual  union. 
It  is  purely  a  psychical  anomaly,  for  the  sexual  instinct 
does  in  no  wise  correspond  with  the  primary  and  second- 
ary physical  sexual  characteristics.  In  spite  of  the  fully 
differentiated  sexual  type,  in  spite  of  the  normally  devel- 
oped and  active  sexual  glands,  man  is  drawn  sexually  to 
the  man,  because  he  has,  consciously  or  otherwise,  the  in- 
stinct of  the  female  toward  him,  or  vice  versa. 

From  the  clinical  and  anthropological  standpoint  this 
abnormal  manifestation  offers  various  grades  of  develop- 
ment. 

(a)  In  predominant  homosexual  instinct  traces  of 
heterosexual  (psychical)  hermaphrodisia  are  to  be  found. 

(&)  If  there  is  only  inclination  to  the  o^vn  sex  (ho- 
mosexuality) the  secon/iary  physical  sexual  characteristics 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES. 


85 


are  normal,  but  the  psychical  ones  may  point  to  incipient 
inversion. 

(c)  The  psychical  sexual  characteristics  are  inverted, 
i.e.,  they  are  shaped  in  accordance  with  the  existing  ab- 
normal sexuality  (effeminatio-viraginity). 

(d)  Also  the  secondary  physical  sexual  characteristics 
approach  that  sex  to  which  the  individual,  according  to  his 
instinct,  belongs  (androgyny-gynandry). 

These  cerebral  anomalies  fall  within  the  domain  of 
psychopathology.  The  spinal  and  peripheral  anomalies 
may  occur  in  combination  with  the  former;  but  as  a  rule 
they  affect  persons  free  from  mental  disease.  They  may 
occur  in  various  combinations,  and  become  the  cause  of 
sexual  crimes,  for  which  reason  they  demand  considera- 
tion in  the  following  description.  However,  the  cerebral 
anomalies  claim  the  principal  interest,  since  they  very 
frequently  lead  to  the  commission  of  perverse  and  even 
criminal  acts. 

A.  Paradoxia.    Sexual  Instinct  Manifesting  Itself  Inde- 
pendently of  Physiological  Processes. 

1.  Sexual  Instinct  Manifested  in  Childhood. 

Every  physician  conversant  with  nervous  affections  and 
diseases  incident  to  childhood  is  aware  of  the  fact  that 
manifestations  of  sexual  instinct  may  occur  in  very  young 
children.  The  observations  of  Ultzmann  concerning 
masturbation  in  childhood^  are  worthy  of  attention  in 
relation  to  it.  It  is  necessary  here  to  differentiate  between 
the  numerous  cases,  in  which,  as  a  result  of  phimosis, 
balanitis,  or  oxyuris  in  the  rectum  or  the  vagina,  young 

^Louyer-Yillermay  speaks  of  masturbation  in  a  girl  of  three 
or  four  years,  and  Moreau  ( "  aberrations  du  sens  g^n^sique,"  2  6dit., 
p.  209)  of  the  same  in  one  of  two  years.  See  further  Maudsleij, 
"Physiology  and  Pathology  of  Mind";  Hirschsprung  ( Kopenhagen ) , 
Berlin,  klin.  Wochenschr,,"  1886,  Nr.  38;  Lomhroso^  "The  Criminal," 
cases  10,  19,  and  21. 


56 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


children  have  itching  of  the  genitals,  and  experience  a 
kind  of  pleasurable  sensation  from  manipulations  occa- 
sioned thereby,  and  thus  come  to  practise  masturbation; 
and  those  cases  in  which  sexual  ideas  and  impulses  occur 
in  the  child  as  a  result  of  cerebral  processes  without 
peripheral  causes.  It  is  only  in  this  latter  class  of  cases 
that  we  have  to  do  with  premature  manifestations  of  sexual 
instinct.  In  such  cases  it  may  always  be  regarded  as  an 
accompanying  symptom  of  a  neuropsychopathic  consti- 
tutional condition. 

A  case  of  Marcs  (^^Die  Geisteskrankheiten/'  etc.,  von 
Ideler,  i.,  p.  66)  illustrates  very  well  these  conditions.  The 
subject  was  a  girl  of  eight  years  of  age,  of  respectable  fam- 
ily, who  was  devoid  of  all  child-like  and  moral  feelings,  and 
had  masturbated  from  her  fourth  vear;  at  the  same  time 
she  consorted  with  boys  of  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve.  She 
had  thought  of  killing  her  parents,  that  she  might  become 
her  own  mistress  and  give  herself  up  to  pleasure  with 
men. 

In  these  cases  of  premature  manifestation  of  libido  the 
children  begin  early  to  masturbate;  and,  since  they  are 
greatly  predisposed  constitutionally,  they  often  sink  into 
dementia,  or  become  subjects  of  severe  degenerative  neu- 
roses or  psychoses. 

Lomhroso  (^^Archivio  di  Psichiatria,"  iv.,  p.  22)  has 
collected  a  number  of  cases  of  children  affected  with  very 
decided  hereditary  taint,  which  belong  to  this  category. 
One  was  that  of  a  girl  who  masturbated  shamelessly  and 
almost  constantly  at  the  age  of  three.  Another  girl  began 
at  the  age  of  eight,  and  continued  to  practise  masturba- 
tion when  married,  and  even  during  pregnancy.  She  was 
pregnant  twelve  times.  Five  of  the  children  died  early, 
four  were  hydrocephalic,  and  two  boys  began  to  mastur- 
bate— one  at  the  age  of  seven,  the  other  at  the  age  of 
four. 

Zamhaco  f^L'Encephale,''  1882,  Nr.  1,  2)  tells  the 
disgusting  story  of  two  sisters  affected  with  premature 
and  perverse  sexual  desire.    The  elder.  E,.  masturbated 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  ^PARABOXIA. 


57 


at  the  age  of  seven^  practised  lewdness  with  boys,  stole 
wherever  she  could^  seduced  her  four-year-old  sister  into 
masturbation,  and  at  the  age  of  ten  was  given  up  to  the 
practice  of  the  most  revolting  vices.  Even  ferrmn  candens 
ad  clitoridem  had  no  effect  in  overcoming  the  practice,  and 
she  masturbated  with  the  cassock  of  a  priest  while  he  was 
exhorting  her  to  reformation. 

Cf.  also  Magnan,  ^'Lectures  on  Psychiatry,''  (in  Ger- 
man by  Mohius,  vols.  ii.  and  iii.,  p.  27),  giving  the  case  of 
premature  and  preverse  vita  sexualis  in  a  girl  of  twelve 
with  hereditary  taint.    Other  cases,  ibidem  p.  120-121. 

2.  Be-awalcening  of  Sexual  Instinct  in  Old  Age?" 

Cases  in  which  the  sexual  instinct  prevails  until  a 
great  age  are  rare.  ^^Senectus  non  quidem  annis  sed 
viribus  magis  sestimatur"  (Zittmann).  Oesterlen  (Masch- 
ha,  Handb.,''  iii.,  p.  18)  mentions  the  case  of  a  man  aged 
eighty-three,  who  was  sentenced  to  three  years'  imprison- 
ment by  a  court  in  Wiirtemberg  on  account  of  sexual  mis- 
demeanours. Unfortunately  nothing  is  said  of  the  nature 
of  the  crime  or  of  the  mental  condition  of  the  criminal. 

The  manifestation  of  sexual  instinct  in  old  age  is  not 
in  itself  pathological. 

Presumption  of  pathological  conditions  must  neces- 
sarily be  entertained  when  the  individual  is  decrepit  and 
his  sexual  life  has  already  long  become  extinct ;  and  when 
the  impulse,  in  a  man  whose  sexual  needs  were  in  his  early 
life,  perhaps,  not  very  marked,  manifests  itself  with 
greater  strength,  and  strives  for  even  perverse  satisfaction 
in  a  shameless  and  impulsive  manner. 

In  such  cases  a  presumption  of  pathological  condi^ 
tions  suggests  itself  at  once.  Medical  science  recognises 
the  fact  that  such  an  impulse  depends  upon  the  morbid 
alterations  of  the  brain  which  lead  to  senile  dementia. 
'J'his  abnormal  manifestation  of  sexual  life  may  be  the 

^Cf,  Kirn,  "  Zeitschr.  f.  Psych.,"  Bd.  xxxix.  Legrand  du  Smile, 
"Annal.  d'hyg./'  Oct.,  1868. 


58 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


precursor  of  senile  dementia,  and  make  its  appearance 
even  long  before  there  are  any  well-defined  manifesta- 
tions of  intellectual  weakness.  The  attentive  and  expe- 
rienced observer  will  always  be  able  to  detect  in  this 
prodromal  stage  an  alteration  of  character  in  pejus,  and 
a  deterioration  of  the  moral  sense  accompanying  the 
peculiar  sexual  manifestation. 

The  libido  of  those  passing  into  senile  dementia  is  at 
first  expressed  in  lascivious  speech  and  gesture.  The  first 
objects  for  the  attempts  of  these  senile  subjects  of  brain 
atrophy  and  psychical  degeneration  are  children.  This 
sad  and  dangerous  fact  is  explained  by  the  better  oppor- 
tunity they  have  in  succeeding  with  children^  but  more 
especially  by  a  feeling  of  imperfect  sexual  power.  De- 
fective sexual  power,  and  greatly  diminished  moral  sense, 
explain  the  additional  fact  of  the  perversity  of  the  sexual 
acts  of  such  aged  men.  They  are  the  equivalents  of  the 
impossible  physiological  act. 

The  annals  of  legal  medicine  distinguish  as  such,  ex- 
hibition of  the  genitals/  lustful  handling  of  the  genitals 
of  children,^  inducing  them  to  perform  manustupration  on 
the  seducer,  and  performing  masturbation^  or  flagellation 
on  the  victim. 

In  this  stage  the  intellect  may  still  be  sufficiently  in- 
tact to  allow  avoidance  of  publicity  and  discovery,  while 
the  moral  sense  is  too  far  gone  to  allow  consideration  of 
the  moral  significance  of  the  act,  and  resistance  to  the 
impulse.  With  the  progress  of  dementia,  these  acts  are 
more  and  more  shamelessly  committed.  Then  care  on 
account  of  defective  sexual  power  disappears,  and  adults 
also  become  the  objects  of  the  senile  passion;  but  the 
defective  sexual  power  necessitates  equivalents  for  coitus. 
'Not  infrequently  sodomy  results,  and,  as  Tarnoivsky  {op. 
cii,,  p.  77)  points  out,  in  the  sexual  act  performed  with 

^Cases,  vide  Lasegiie;  Les  exhibitionistes/'  Union  m^dicale, 
1871:  1st  May. 

^Legrand  du  Saulle,  "  La  folie  devant  les  tribunaux,"  p.  530. 
^Kirn,  Maschka's  "  Handb.  d.  ger.  Med."  pp.  373,  374;  "  Allg. 
Zeitschrift  f.  Psychiatrie/'  Bd.  xxxix.,  p.  220. 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  PARADOXIA. 


59 


geese,  chickens,  etc.,  the  sight  of  the  dying  animal  and 
its  death-struggles  at  the  time  of  coitus  afford  complete 
gratification.  The  perverse  sexual  acts  with  adults  are 
quite  as  horrible,  and  may  be  explained  psychologically 
in  the  same  way. 

Case  49,  in  the  author's  ^Text-Book  of  Legal  Psycho- 
pathology,''  second  edition,  p.  161,  demonstrates  how 
enormously  increased  sexual  lust  may  be  during  the 
course  of  senile  dementia.  Quum  senex  libidinosus  ger- 
manam  suam  filiam  cemulatione  motus  necaret  et  adspeetu 
pectoris  scissi  puellce  moribundce  delectaretur. 

Erotic  delirium  and  states  of  satyriasis  may  occur  in 
the  course  of  the  malady,  with  or  without  maniacal 
episodes,  as  the  following  case  shows : — 

Case  1.  J.  Rene,  always  given  to  indulgence  in  sen- 
suality and  sexual  pleasures,  but  always  with  regard  for 
decorum,  had  shown,  since  his  seventy-sixth  year,  a  pro- 
gressive loss  of  intelligence  and  increasing  perversion  of 
his  moral  sense.  Previously  bright  and  outwardly  moral, 
he  now  wasted  his  property  in  concourse  with  prostitutes, 
frequented  brothels  only,  asked  every  woman  on  the  street 
to  marry  him  or  allow  coitus,  and  thus  became  publicly  so 
obnoxious  that  it  was  necessary  to  place  him  in  an  asy- 
lum. There  the  sexual  excitement  increased  to  a  veritable 
satyriasis,  which  lasted  until  he  died.  He  masturbated 
continuously,  even  before  others;  took  delight  only  in 
obscene  ideas;  thought  the  men  about  him  were  women, 
and  followed  them  with  indecent  proposals  (Legrand  du 
Saulle,  "La  Folic,"  p.  533). 

Moreover,  women  previously  moral,  when  affected  with 
senile  dementia,  may  manifest  similar  conditions  of  great 
sexual  excitement  (nymphomania,  furor  uterinus). 

It  may  be  seen  from  a  reading  of  Schopenhauer,'^  that, 
as  a  result  of  senile  dementia,  the  abnormally  excited  and 
perverse  instinct  may  be  directed  exclusively  to  persons 
of  the  same  sex  (v.  infra).    Gratification  is  obtained  by 
*  "Die  Welt  als  Wille  und  Vorstellung,"  1859,  Bd.  ii.,  p.  461  et  seq. 


60 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


passive  pederasty,  or,  as  I  ascertained  in  the  following 
case,  by  mutual  masturbation : — 

Case  2.  Mr.  X.,  aged  eighty,  of  high  social  standing, 
born  of  a  family  with  hereditary  taint.  He  was  always 
very  sensual  and  a  cynic,  of  uncontrollable  temper,  and, 
according  to  his  own  confession,  as  a  young  man  pre- 
ferred masturbation  to  coitus.  However,  he  never  showed 
signs  of  sexual  perversion,  and  kept  mistresses,  raising  a 
child  by  one.  At  the  age  of  forty-eight  he  married,  out 
of  inclination,  and  begat  six  children,  and  never  gave  his 
wife  cause  for  complaint.  I  could  obtain  but  an  incom- 
plete history  of  his  family.  It  was  certain  that  his  brother 
was  suspected  of  love  for  men,  and  that  a  nephew  became 
insane  as  a  result  of  excessive  masturbation. 

The  patient's  temper,  always  peculiar  and  quick,  had 
for  years  been  growing  more  violent.  He  had  become 
exceedingly  suspicious,  and  slight  opposition  to  his  wishes 
induced  attacks  of  anger  which  turned  at  times  into  actual 
raving,  when  he  would  raise  his  hand  even  against  his  wife. 
For  a  year  there  had  been  unmistakable  signs  of  incipient 
senile  dementia.  The  patient  had  become  forgetful,  local- 
ised past  events  incorrectly,  and  had  false  ideas  of  time. 
For  fourteen  months  it  was  noticed  that  he  manifested  af- 
fection for  certain  male  servants,  especially  for  a  garden- 
er's boy.  Otherwise  rude  and  overbearing  to  servants,  he 
surfeited  his  favourite  with  favours  and  presents,  and  com- 
manded his  family  and  his  house  officials  to  treat  the  boy 
with  the  greatest  respect.  The  aged  patient  awaited  the 
hour  of  rendezvous  in  true  sexual  excitement.  He  sent  his 
family  away,  that  he  might  be  with  his  favourite  undis- 
turbed, and  remained  shut  up  with  him  for  hours;  and 
when  the  doors  were  opened  again,  he  was  found  lying  on 
the  bed  exhausted.  Besides  this  object  of  his  passion,  the 
patient  had  intercourse  episodically  with  other  servants. 
It  is  certain  that  he  enticed  them,  asked  them  for  kisses, 
exhibited  himself,  allowed  manipulation  ad  genitalia,  and 
practised  mutual  masturbation.    By  these  practices  abso- 


CEEEBRAL.  NEUROSES  PARADOXIC. 


61 


lute  demoralisation  was  brought  about  in  the  household. 

The  family  was  powerless;  for  any  opposition  caused 
violent  outbreaks  of  anger  and  even  threats  against  his 
relatives.  The  patient  was  completely  without  apprecia- 
tion of  his  perverse  sexual  acts;  and  therefore  the  only 
course  left  to  the  afflicted  family  was  to  remove  all  author- 
ity from  his  hands  and  place  him  in  an  asylum.  No  erotic 
inclination  towards  the  opposite  sex  was  observed,  though 
the  patient  occupied  a  sleeping-apartment  with  his  wife. 
With  reference  to  the  perverse  sexuality  and  the  defective 
moral  sense  of  this  unfortunate  man,  it  is  worthy  of  note 
that  he  questioned  the  servants  of  his  daughter-in-law  as 
to  whether  she  had  lovers. 

B. — Anasthcsia  Scxualis  (Absence  of  Sexual  Feeling). 

1.  As  a  Congenital  Anomaly. 

Only  those  cases  can  be  regarded  as  unquestionable 
examples  of  absence  of  sexual  instinct  dependent  on  cere- 
bral causes,  in  which,  in  spite  of  generative  organs  nor- 
mally developed  and  the  performance  of  their  functions 
(secretion  of  semen,  menstruation),  the  corresponding 
emotions  of  sexual  life  are  absolutely  wanting.  These  func- 
tionally sexless  individuals  are  rare  cases,  and,  indeed, 
always  persons  having  degenerative  defects,  in  whom  other 
functional  cerebral  disturbances,  states  of  psychical  degen- 
eration, and  even  anatomical  signs  of  degeneration,  may  be 
observed. 

Case  3.  K.,  age  29,  civil  servant,  consulted  me  on 
account  of  his  abnormal  sexual  condition.  Being  without 
relatives  he  wanted  to  marry,  but  only  on  rational  grounds. 
He  claimed  to  have  never  experienced  a  sensual  emotion. 
Sexual  life  was  known  to  him  only  from  what  he  had 
heard  other  men  say  about  it  or  from  what  he  had  read  in 
erotic  novels,  which,  however,  had  never  made  any  im- 
pression  upon   him.      He   had   no    dislike   for  the 


62 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


opposite  sex,  or  special  inclination  towards  his  own  sex, 
and  had  never  masturbated.  Since  his  seventeenth  yeaii! 
he  had  at  intervals  nocturnal  pollutions,  but  without  con-^ 
comitant  lascivious  dreams.  Erections  occurred  in  the^ 
morning  when  waking  which,  however,  disappeared  at  once 
after  emptying  the  bladder.  Excepting  this  want  of  sexual 
instinct  K.  considered  himself  quite  normal.  'No  psychical 
defects  could  be  detected.  He  was  fond  of  solitude,  but 
of  a  frigid  nature,  without  interest  in  the  arts  or  the  beau- 
tiful, but  a  highly  efficient  and  esteemed  official. 

Case  4.  W.,  age  25,  merchant,  claimed  to  be  un- 
tainted, never  had  a  severe  illness,  never  had  masturbated, 
since  his  nineteenth  year  had  but  rarely  pollutions,  mostly 
without  sensual  dreams.  Since  his  twenty-first  year  coitus 
rarissimus,  actus  quasi  masturbatorius,  in  corpore  feminaCj 
sine  ulla  voluptate.  W.  declared  to  have  made  these  at- 
tempts solely  through  curiosity,  and  soon  gave  them  up 
altogether  as  desire,  gratification,  and  ultimately  even 
erection  were  wanting.  He  never  had  any  leaning  towards 
his  own  sex.  His  deficiency  did  not  seem  to  cause  him  any 
worry.  In  the  ethical  and  sesthetical  field  there  were  no  ab- 
normal manifestations. 

Case  5.  P.,  aged  thirty-six,  common  labourer,  was 
received  at  my  clinic  in  the  beginning  of  ISTovember  on 
account  of  spastic  spinal  paralysis.  He  declared  he  came 
of  a  healthy  family.  A  stutterer  from  his  youth.  Cranium 
microcephalic  (cf.  53  cm.).  Patient  somewhat  imbecile. 
He  was  never  sociable,  never  had  a  sexual  emotion.  The 
sight  of  a  woman  never  had  anything  enticing  for  him. 
He  never  had  a  desire  to  masturbate.  Erections  frequent^ 
but  only  on  awakening  in  the  morning  with  a  full  bladder;s 
and  without  a  trace  of  sexual  feeling.  Pollutions  very 
infrequent — about  once  a  year,  in  sleep — and  usually 
while  dreaming  that  he  was  concerned  with  a  female, 
These  dreams,  however,  as  his  dreams  in  general,  were  not 
markedly  erotic.    He  said  the  act  of  pollution  wasjj.ot  ac- 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  ANAESTHESIA  SEXUALIS.  63 

companied  by  any  pleasurable  sensation.  Patient  did 
not  feel  this  absence  of  sexual  sensation.  He  gave  the 
assurance  that  his  brother,  aged  thirty-four,  was  in  exactly 
the  same  sexual  condition  as  himseK,  and  made  it  seem 
probable  that  a  sister,  aged  twenty-one,  was  in  a  similar 
state.  A  younger  brother,  he  said,  was  sexually  normal. 
The  examination  of  his  genitals  revealed  nothing  abnormal 
beyond  phimosis. 

Further  cases  see  V.  Krafft,  "Arbeiten/'  iv.,  p.  178, 
179. 

Hammond  ("Sexual  Impotence'^),  even  with  his  wide 
experience,  reports  only  the  following  three  cases  of  anaes- 
thesia sexualis : — 

Case  6.  Mr.  W.,  aged  thirty-three;  strong,  healthy, 
with  normal  genitals.  He  had  never  experienced  libido, 
and  had  vainly  sought  to  awaken  his  defective  sexual  in- 
stinct by  means  of  obscene  stories  and  intercourse  with 
prostitutes.  On  the  occasion  of  such  attempts  he  experi- 
enced only  disgust,  with  even  a  feeling  of  nausea,  and 
became  nervously  and  mentally  exhausted.  Only  oncCj 
when  he  forced  the  situation,  did  he  have  a  transitory  erec- 
tion. W.  had  never  masturbated,  and  had  had  pollutions 
about  once  every  two  months  from  his  seventeenth  year. 
Important  interests  demanded  that  he  should  marry.  He 
had  no  horror  feminoe^  and  longed  for  a  home  and  a  wife, 
but  felt  that  he  was  incapable  of  the  sexual  act.  He 
died  unmarried  in  the  American  Civil  War. 

Case  7.  X.,  aged  twenty-seven,  genitals  normal; 
never  felt  libido.  Mechanical  or  thermic  stimuli  easily  in- 
duced erection,  but  libido  sexualis  was  regularly  replaced 
by  a  desire  for  alcoholic  indulgence.  Such  excesses  also 
induced  erections,  and  he  then  sometimes  masturbated. 
He  had  a  disinclination  for  women  and  a  loathing  of 
coitus.  If,  with  an  erection,  he  made  an  attempt  at 
coitus,  it  disappeared  at  once.  Death  in  coma  during  an 
attack  of  cerebral  hypersemia. 


64 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  8.  Mrs.  O.,  normally  developed,  healthy,  men- 
struated regularly ;  aged  thirty-five ;  fifteen  years  married. 
She  never  experienced  libido,  and  never  had  any  erotic 
excitement  in  sexual  intercourse  with  her  husband.  She 
was  not  averse  to  coitus,  and  sometimes  seemed  to  experi- 
ence pleasure  in  it,  but  she  never  had  a  wish  for  repetition 
of  cohabitation. 

In  connection  with  such  genuine  cases  of  anaesthesia,^ 
there  should  be  considered  other  cases  in  which  the  mental 
side  of  the  vita  sexualis  is  a  blank  leaf  in  the  life  of 
the  individual,  but  where  elementary  sexual  sensations 
manifest  themselves  at  least  in  masturbation  (cf,  the  tran- 
sitional case  7).  According  to  Magnans  ingenious  classi- 
fication— which,  however,  is  not  strictly  correct  and 
somewhat  too  dogmatic — in  such  cases  the  sexual  life  is 
so  limited  as  to  be  designated  spinal.  Possibly  in  some 
such  cases  there  exists  virtually  a  mental  side  of  the  vita 
sexualis,  but  it  is  very  weak,  and  undermined  by  mastur- 
bation before  it  attains  development.  These  represent 
the  transitional  cases  from  the  congenital  to  the  acquired 
(psychical)  anaesthesia  sexualis.  This  danger  threatens 
many  masturbators  of  vitiated  constitution.  It  is  psycho- 
logically interesting  that  when  the  sexual  element  is  early 
vitiated,  then  an  ethical  defect  is  manifested. 

The  two  following  cases,  previously  published  by  me 
in  the  "Archiv  fiir  Psychiatric,''  vii.,  are  given  here  as 
illustrations  worthy  of  consideration: — 

^No  doubt  Swift's,  the  great  satirist,  was  a  case  of  anaesthesia 
sexualis.  Adolf  Stern  says  in  his  biography  of  Swift  ("  Aus  dem  18. 
Jahrhundert;  Biographische  Bilder  und  Skizzen/'  Leipzig,  1874)  : 
"  It  seems  that  he  was  totally  devoid  of  the  sensual  elements  of  love; 
his  candid  cynicism,  found  in  many  of  his  letters,  is  almost  definite 
proof  of  this.  Whoever  properly  grasps  certain  passages  in  '  Gulli- 
ver's Travels,'  and  especially  the  account  which  Swift  gives  of  the 
marriage  and  progeny  of  the  Houyhnhorses,  the  noble  steeds  of  the 
last  chapters,  can  scarcely  doubt  that  this  great  satirist  abhorred 
marriage,  and  never  felt  the  impulse  which  draws  the  sexes  together." 
Practically  speaking,  the  enigmatical  side  of  Swift's  character,  and 
several  of  his  works,  viz,,  *'Diary  to  Stella"  and  "Gulliver's  Travels," 
can  only  be  understood  if  Swift  is  considered  sexually  anaesthetic. 


CEEEBRAL  NEUEOSES  ^AN-^STHESIA  SEXUALIS,  65 

Case  9.  F.  J.,  aged  nineteen,  student;  mother  was 
nervous,  sister  epileptic.  At  the  age  of  four,  acute  brain 
affection,  lasting  two  weeks.  As  a  child  he  was  not 
affectionate,  and  was  cold  towards  his  parents ;  as  a  student 
he  was  peculiar,  retiring,  preoccupied  with  self,  and  given 
to  much  reading.  Well  endowed  mentally.  Masturbation 
from  fifteenth  year.  Eccentric  after  puberty,  with  con- 
tinual vacillation  between  religious  enthusiasm  and  ma- 
terialism— now  studying  theology,  now  natural  sciences. 
At  the  university  his  fellow-students  took  him  for  a  fool. 
He  read  Jean  Paul  almost  exclusively,  and  wasted  his 
time.  Absolute  absence  of  sexual  feeling  toward  the  op- 
posite sex.  Once  he  indulged  in  intercourse,  experienced 
no  sexual  feeling  in  the  act,  found  coitus  absurd,  and  did 
not  repeat  it.  Without  any  emotional  cause  whatever,  he 
often  had  a  thought  of  suicide.  He  made  it  the  subject  of 
a  philosophical  dissertation,  in  which  he  contended  that  it 
was,  like  masturbation,  a  justifiable  act.  After  repeated 
experiments  which  he  made  on  himself  with  various  poi- 
sons, he  attempted  suicide  with  fifty-seven  grains  of  opium, 
but  he  was  saved  and  sent  to  an  asylum. 

Patient  was  destitute  of  moral  and  social  feelings.  His 
writings  disclosed  incredible  frivolity  and  vulgarity.  His 
knowledge  was  of  a  wide  range,  but  his  logic  peculiarly 
distorted.  There  was  no  trace  of  emotionality.  He  treated 
everything  (even  the  sublime)  with  incomparable  cynicism 
and  irony.  He  pleaded  for  the  justification  of  suicide  with 
false  philosophical  premises  and  conclusions,  and,  as  one 
would  speak  of  the  most  indifferent  affair,  he  declared  that 
he  intended  to  accomplish  it.  He  regretted  that  his  pen- 
knife had  been  taken  from  him.  If  he  had  it,  he  would 
open  his  veins  as  Seneca  did — in  the  bath.  At  one  time 
a  friend  had  given  him  instead  of  a  poison  as  he  sup- 
posed, a  cathartic.  Instead  of  sending  him  to  the  other 
world,  it  sent  him  to  the  water-closet.  Only  the  Great 
Operator  could  eradicate  his  foolish  and  fatal  idea  with  the 
scythe  of  death,  etc. 

The  patient  had  a  large,  rhombic,  distorted  skull,  the 

5 


66 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAUS. 


left  half  of  the  forehead  being  flatter  than  the  right.  The 
occiput  was  very  straight.  Ears  far  back,  widely  project- 
ing, and  the  external  meatus  formed  a  narrow  slit.  Genitals 
very  lax ;  testicles  unusually  soft  and  small. 

Now  and  then  the  patient  suffered  with  onomatomania. 
He  was  compelled  to  think  of  the  most  useless  problems 
and  give  himself  up  to  interminable,  distressing  and  worry- 
ing thoughts,  and  became  so  fatigued  that  he  was  no  longer 
capable  of  any  rational  thinking.  After  some  months  the 
patient  was  sent  home  imimproved.  There  he  spent  his 
time  in  reading  and  frivolities,  and  busied  himself  with 
the  thought  of  founding  a  new  system  of  Christianity 
because  Christ  had  been  subject  to  grand  delusions  and 
had  deceived  the  world  with  miracles (  !).  After  remaining 
at  home  some  years  the  sudden  occurrence  of  a  maniacal 
outbreak  brought  him  back  to  the  asylum.  He  presented 
a  mixture  of  primordial  delirium  of  persecution  (devil, 
antichrist,  persecution,  poisoning,  persecuting  voices) 
and  delusions  of  grandeur  (Christ,  redemption  of  the 
world),  with  impulsive,  incoherent  actions.  After  five 
months  there  was  a  remission  of  this  intercurrent  acute 
mental  disease,  and  the  patient  returned  to  the  level  of 
his  original  intellectual  peculiarity  and  moral  defect. 

Case  10.   E.,  aged  thirty,  journeyman  painter,  was 

arrested  while  trying  to  cut  off  the  scrotum  of  a  boy  he 
had  caught  in  the  woods.  He  gave  as  a  motive  for  this 
act  that  he  wished  to  cut  it  off  in  order  that  the  world 
should  not  multiply.  Often  in  his  youth,  with  like 
purpose,  he  had  cut  into  his  own  genitals. 

It  is  impossible  to  learn  anything  of  his  ancestry. 
From  his  childhood  he  was  mentally  abnormal,  violent, 
never  lively,  very  irritable,  irascible,  selfish  and  weak 
minded.  He  hated  women,  loved  solitude,  and  read  much. 
He  sometimes  laughed  to  himself  and  did  silly  things. 
Of  late  years  his  hatred  of  women  had  increased,  especially 
of  those  that  were  pregnant,  they  being  responsible  for 
the  misery  of  the  world.    He  also  hated  children,  and 


CEEEBEAL  NEUEOSES  ^AN^STHESIA  SEXUALIS.  67 

cursed  his  father.  He  entertained  communistic  ideas, 
and  berated  the  rich  and  the  ministry  and  God,  who 
had  allowed  him  to  come  into  the  world  so  poor.  He 
declared  that  it  would  be  better  to  castrate  all  children 
than  to  allow  others  to  come  into  the  world  fated  only  to 
endure  poverty  and  misery.  He  had  always  had  the  in- 
tention, from  his  fifteenth  year,  of  castrating  himself,  in 
order  that  he  might  have  no  part  in  increasing  unhappiness 
and  adding  to  the  number  of  men.  He  hated  the  female 
sex  because  it  was  a  means  of  procreation.  Only  twice  in 
his  life  had  he  allowed  women  to  practise  manustupration 
on  him,  and,  with  the  exception  of  this  he  had  never  had 
anything  to  do  with  them.  Occasionally  he  had  sexual 
desire,  but  never  for  a  natural  gratification  of  it.  When 
nature  did  not  help  him,  he  occasionally  helped  himself 
by  means  of  masturbation. 

He  was  a  powerful,  muscular  man.  The  formation  of 
the  genitals  presented  no  abnormality.  On  the  scrotum 
and  penis  were  numerous  scars,  the  results  of  his  attempts 
at  self-emasculation,  which,  he  asserted,  were  not  carried 
out  on  account  of  pain.  Genu  valgum  of  right  leg.  'No 
evidence  of  onanism  could  be  discovered.  He  was  moody, 
defiant,  irritable.  Social  feelings  were  absolutely  foreign 
to  him.  With  the  exception  of  imperfect  sleep  and  fre- 
quent headaches,  there  were  no  functional  disturbances. 

From  cases  of  this  kind,  depending  on  cerebral  causes, 
there  must  be  distinguished  others  in  which  the  absence 
of  function  arises  from  an  absence  of  malformation  of  the 
generative  organs,  as  in  certain  hermaphrodites,  idiots  and 
cretins. 

TJUzmanns^  observations  show  that  anaesthesia  sexualis 
is  not  caused  simply  by  aspermia.  He  shows  that  even  in 
congenital  aspermia  the  vita  sexualis  and  sexual  power 
may  be  entirely  satisfying;  an  additional  proof  that  de- 

Ueber  mannliche  Sterilitat,"  Wiener  med.  Presse,  1878,  Nr.  1. 
Ueber  Potentia  generandi  et  coeundi,"  Wiener  Klinik,  1885,  Heft  1, 
S.  5. 


68 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


f ective  libido  ah  origine  is  to  be  sought  for  in  cerebral  con- 
ditions. 

The  naturae  frigidae  of  Zacchias  are  examples  of  a 
milder  form  of  anaesthesia.  They  are  met  with  more  fre- 
quently in  women  than  in  men.  The  characteristic  signs  of 
this  anomaly  are :  slight  inclination  to  sexual  intercourse,  or 
pronounced  disinclination  to  coitus  without  sexual  equiva- 
lent, and  failure  of  corresponding  psychical,  pleasurable 
excitation  during  coitus,  which  is  indulged  in  simply  from 
sense  of  duty.  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  hear  com- 
plaints from  husbands  about  this.  In  such  cases  the  wives 
have  always  proved  to  be  neuropathic  ah  origine.  Some 
were  at  the  same  time  hysterical. 

2.  Acquired  Ancssthesia. 

Acquired  diminution  of  sexual  instinct,  extending 
through  all  degrees  to  extinction,  may  depend  on  various 
causes.  These  may  be  organic  and  functional,  psychical 
and  somatic,  central  and  peripheral.  The  diminution  of 
libido^  as  age  advances,  and  its  temporary  disappearance 
after  the  sexual  act,  are  physiological.  The  variations  with 
reference  to  the  duration  of  the  sexual  instinct  are  de- 
pendent upon  individual  factors.  Education  and  manner 
of  life  have  a  great  influence  upon  the  intensity  of  the 
vita  sexualis.  Intense  mental  activity  (hard  study),  phy- 
sical exertion,  emotional  depression,  and  sexual  continence 
decidedly  diminish  sexual  inclination.  Continence  at  first 
induces  increase,  but  sooner  or  later,  according  to  con- 
stitutional conditions,  the  activity  of  the  generative  organs 
decreases,  and  with  it  libido.  At  all  events,  in  a  person 
sexually  mature,  a  close  connection  exists  between  the 
activity  of  the  generative  glands  and  the  degree  of  libido. 
That  this  relation  is  not  determined  is  shown  by  the  cases 
of  sensual  women,  who,  after  the  climacterium,  continue 
to  have  sexual  intercourse,  and  may  manifest  states  of 
sexual  excitement  (cerebral).  Also  in  eunuchs  it  is  seen 
that  libido  may  long  outlast  the  production  of  semen. 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  HYPERiESTHESIA. 


69 


On  the  other  hand,  however,  experience  teaches  that 
libido  is  essentially  conditioned  by  the  functions  of  the 
generative  glands,  and  that  the  facts  mentioned  are  ex- 
ceptional manifestations.  As  peripheral  causes  of  diminu- 
tion or  extinction  of  libido^  may  be  mentioned  castration, 
degeneration  of  the  sexual  glands,  marasmus,  sexual 
excesses  in  the  form  of  coitus  and  masturbation,  and 
alcoholism  and  abuse  of  cocaine.  In  the  same  way, 
the  disappearance  of  libido  in  general  disturbances  of 
nutrition  (diabetes,  morphinism,  etc.)  may  be  explained. 
Finally,  the  atrophy  of  the  testicles  should  be  remem- 
bered, which  has  sometimes  been  observed  to  follow  focal 
lesions  of  the  brain  (cerebellum). 

A  diminution  of  the  vita  sexualis  from  degeneration 
of  the  tracts  of  the  cord  and  genito  -  spinal  centre, 
occurs  in  diseases  of  the  spinal  cord  and  brain.  A 
central  interference  with  the  sexual  instinct  may  be  or- 
ganically induced  by  cortical  disease  (dementia  paralytica 
in  its  advanced  stages)  ;  functionally,  by  hysteria  (cen- 
tral anaesthesia?)  and  emotional  insanity  (melancholia, 
hypochondria). 

C.  Hyper^^sthesia  (Abnormally  Increased  Sexual  Desire)^ 

One  of  the  most  important  anomalies  of  sexual  life  is 
an  abnormal  presence  of  sexual  sensations  and  presenta- 
tions from  which  necessarily  arise  frequent  and  violent 
impulses  for  sexual  gratification.  ISTo  doubt  it  is  the  out- 
come of  the  education,  or  rather  the  breeding  of  many 
centuries  that  the  sexual  instinct  which  is  indispensable 
for  the  preservation  of  the  race  and  therefore  congenital 
in  every  normal  individual,  is  not  the  predominant  key 
in  the  chord  of  human  sentiments,  but  rather  forms  epi- 
sodes in  the  physical  and  psychical  life  of  cultured  man 
with  periods  of  ebb  and  flood  tide;  is  the  generating  ele- 
ment of  higher  and  nobler  social  and  moral  sentiments, 
and  leaves  room  for  other  spheres  of  activity,  the  object 
of  which  is  the  furtherance  of  interests  affecting  the  indi- 
vidual as  weir  as  society  at  large. 


70 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


It  is^  moreover,  a  statute  of  the  moral  code  and  of 
the  common  law  that  civilised  man  satisfy  his  sexual  in- 
stinct only  within  the  barriers  (established  in  the  interests 
of  the  community)  of  modesty  and  morality,  and  that 
man  should,  under  all  circumstances,  control  this  instinct 
so  soon  as  it  comes  in  conflict  with  the  altruistic  demands 
of  society. 

If  the  normally  constituted  civilised  individual  were 
unable  to  comply  with  this  rule,  family  and  state  would 
cease  to  exist  as  the  foundations  of  a  moral,  lawful  com- 
munity. 

Practically  speaking  the  sexual  instinct  never  develops 
in  the  normal,  sane  individual  that  has  not  been  deprived 
by  intoxication  (alcohol,  etc.)  of  his  reason  or  good  senses, 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  permeates  all  this  thoughts  and 
feelings,  allowing  of  no  other  aims  in  life,  tumultuously, 
and  in  rut-like  fashion  demanding  gratification  without 
granting  the  possibility  of  moral  and  righteous  counter-pre- 
sentations, and  resolving  itself  into  an  impulsive,  insatiable 
succession  of  sexual  enjoyments. 

For  the  latter  would  at  once  betray  a  pathological  con- 
dition, which  episodically  might  produce  such  a  high 
degree  of  sexual  affection,  that  self-consciousness  becomes 
clouded,  sanity  impaired,  and  a  true  psychical  calamity 
established  which  would  lead  to  an  irresistible  impulse  to 
commit  sexual  acts  of  violence. 

Such  psycho-sexual  extravagances  have  been  but  little 
probed  scientifically,  though  they  are  of  great  importance 
for  the  criminal  forum  since  the  individual  so  affected 
can  scarcely  be  held  mentally  responsible.  It  is  fortunate 
for  society  and  for  the  criminal  doctor,  who  is  called  upon 
to  make  the  diagnosis,  that  these  cases,  in  w^hich  irresistible 
hypersensuality  leads  to  the  gravest  and  indisputably  path- 
ological sexual  aberrations,  are  only  encountered  in  that 
category  of  human  beings  w^hom  we  class  among  the  de- 
generates infected  with  hereditary  taint. 

Alas,  their  number  is  by  no  means  small  in  modern  so- 
ciety, which  shows  many  marks  of  physical  and  psychical 


CEREBRAL,  NEUROSES  HYPERESTHESIA.  7l 

degeneration,  especially  in  the  centres  of  culture  and  re- 
finement. 

Coupled  with  perversions  of  sexual  life  and  sexual  im- 
becility springing  from  the  same  degenerated  soil,  often 
with  the  aiding  influence  of  alcohol,  the  most  monstrous  and 
horrible  sexual  excesses  (cf.  Sadism)  are  perpetrated 
which  would  disgrace  humanity  at  large,  could  they  be 
committed  by  normal  man. 

The  commission  of  these  atrocious  acts  by  degenerated 
and  partially  defective  individuals  is  the  outcome  of  an  ir- 
resistible impulse  or  delirium.  The  mechanism  of  these 
actions  is  indeed  the  property  of  psychical  degeneration. 

The  special  act  follows  the  direction  given  by  the  her- 
editary or  acquired  impulse  and  in  many  instances  is  de- 
termined by  the  relative  potency  or  impotence  of  the  agent. 
This  pathological  sexu.ality  is  a  dreadful  scourge  for  its 
victim,  for  he  is  in  constant  danger  of  violating  the  laws  of 
the  state  and  of  morality,  of  losing  his  honor,  his  freedom 
and  even  his  life.  Alcohol  and  prolonged  sexual  abstinence 
are  apt  to  produce  in  such  degenerated  persons  at  any  time 
powerful  sexual  affections. 

Besides  these  graver  manifestations  of  pathological  sex- 
uality we  find  also  milder  and  more  numerous  gradations 
of  hypersexuality,  to  the  lowest  of  which,  perhaps,  belong 
those  individuals  who,  impecunious  though  they  be  whilst 
sexually  potent,  move  in  the  better  classes  of  society  and 
have  no  other  aim  in  life  than  to  gratify  their  sexual  de- 
sires. These  are  not  afflicted  with  a  pathological  sexual 
condition,  know  to  control  themselves  in  a  measure,  observe 
the  acknowledged  rules  of  decency,  do  not  compromise 
themselves,  but  allow  no  opportunity  to  pass  by  without 
utilizing  it  to  the  utmost.  Another  grade  are  the  apron- 
hunters,  the  Don  Juans,  w^hose  whole  existence  is  an  end- 
less chain  of  sensual  enjoyment  and  whose  blunted  moral 
sense  does  not  keep  them  from  seduction,  adultery  and 
even  incest. 


Case  !!•    P.,  Caretaker,  age  53;  married;  no  evi- 


72 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAI.IS. 


dence  of  hereditary  taint;  no  epileptic  antecedents;  mod- 
erate drinker ;  no  sign  of  senium  precox ;  appeared,  accord- 
ing to  the  statement  of  his  wife  during  the  whole  time  of 
their  married  life  covering  a  period  of  28  years,  hypersex- 
ual,  extremely  libidinous,  ever  potent,  in  fact  insatiable  in 
his  marital  relations.  During  coitus  he  became  quite  bestial 
and  wild,  trembled  all  over  with  excitement  and  panted 
heavily.  This  nauseated  the  wife  who  by  nature  was  rather 
frigid  and  rendered  the  discharge  of  her  conjugal  duty  a 
heavy  burden.  He  worried  her  with  his  jealous  behaviour, 
but  he  himself  soon  after  the  marriage  seduced  his  wife's 
sister,  an  innocent  girl,  and  had  a  child  by  her.  In  1873  he 
took  mother  and  child  to  his  home.  He  now  had  two 
women,  but  gave  preference  to  the  sister-in-law,  which  the 
wife  tolerated  as  a  lesser  evil.  As  years  went  by  his  libido 
increased,  though  his  potency  decreased.  He  often  resorted 
to  masturbation  even  immediately  after  coitus,  and  with- 
out in  the  least  minding  the  presence  of  the  women.  Since 
1892  he  committed  immoral  acts  with  a  girl  of  16  years, 
who  was  his  ward,  i,e,,  puellam  coagere  solehat,  ut  eum 
masturbaret.  He  even  tried  to  force  her  at  the  point  of  a 
revolver  to  have  coitus  with  him.  The  same  attempts  he 
made  on  his  own  illegitimate  child,  so  that  both  often  had 
to  be  protected  from  him.  At  the  clinic  he  was  quiet  and 
well-behaved.  His  excuse  was  hypersexuality.  He  ac- 
knowledged the  wrongfulness  of  his  actions,  but  said  he 
could  not  help  himself.  The  frigidity  of  the  wife  had 
forced  him  to  commit  adultery.  There  was  no  disturbance 
of  his  mental  faculties,  but  the  ethical  elements  were  ut- 
terly wanting.  He  had  several  epileptic  fits  but  no  signs 
of  degeneration. 

We  must  concede  that  the  degree  of  libido  sexualis  is 
subject  to  rise  and  fall  in  the  untainted  individual,  accord- 
ing to  age,  constitutional  conditions,  mode  of  life  and  the 
various  influences  of  health  and  illness  of  the  body,  etc. 
Sexual  desire  rapidly  increases  after  puberty,  until  it 
reaches  a  marked  degree ;  it  is  strongest  from  the  twentieth 
to  the  fortieth  year,  and  then  slowly  decreases.  Married 


CEREBEAL  NEUROSES  HYPERESTHESIA. 


73 


life  seems  to  preserve  and  control  the  instinct.  Sexual  in- 
tercourse with  many  persons  increases  the  desire. 

Since  woman  has  less  sexual  need  than  man,  a  pre- 
dominating sexual  desire  in  her  arouses  a  suspicion  of  its 
pathological  significance.  Those  living  in  large  cities,  who 
are  constantly  reminded  of  sexual  things  and  incited  to 
sexual  enjoyment,  certainly  have  more  sexual  desire  than 
those  living  in  the  country.  A  dissipated,  luxurious,  se- 
dentary manner  of  life,  preponderance  of  animal  food,  and 
the  consumption  of  spirits,  spices,  etc.,  have  a  stimulating 
influence  on  the  sexual  life.  In  woman  the  sexual  inclina- 
tion is  post-menstrually  increased.  At  this  period,  in  neu- 
ropathic women,  the  excitement  may  reach  a  pathological 
degree. 

The  great  libido  of  consumptives  is  remarkable,  even 
during  the  very  latest  stages  of  the  disease.  Sexual  hyper- 
sesthesia  is  in  my  opinion  a  functional  manifestation  of  de- 
generation. Whether  it  may  occur  as  an  acquired,  acci- 
dental, episodical  condition  in  the  untainted  is  worthy  of 
scientific  research.  Excessive  libido  may  be  peripherally 
or  centrally  induced.  The  former  manner  of  origin  is  the 
more  infrequent.  Pruritus  and  eczema  of  the  genitals  may 
cause  it,  and  likewise  certain  substances,  like  cantharides, 
which  powerfully  stimulate  sexual  desire. 

IsTot  infrequently  in  women  at  the  climacteric  period 
sexual  excitement  occurs,  occasioned  by  pruritus,  and  also 
in  cases  where  there  is  neuropathic  taint.  Magnan  (^^An- 
nales  medico-psychoL,"  1885,  p.  157)  reports  the  case  of 
a  lady  who  was  affiicted  in  the  mornings  with  attacks  of 
frightful  erethismus  genitalis,  and  the  case  of  a  man  aged 
fifty-five  who  was  tormented  at  night  by  unbearable  pri- 
apism.   In  each  case  there  was  a  neurosis. 

The  central  origin  of  sexual  excitement  can  often  be 
traced^  in  persons  having  neurotic  taint  or  hysteria  and  in 

^In  individuals  in  whom  intense  sexual  hyperaesthesia  is  asso- 
ciated with  acquired  irritable  weakness  of  the  sexual  apparatus,  it 
happens  that  simply  at  the  sight  of  a  pleasing  female  figure,  without 
peripheral  irritation  of  the  genitals,  the  psycho-sexual  centre  may 
«xcite  into  action  not  only  the  mechanism  of  the  erection,  but  slIso 


74 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


conditions  of  psychical  exaltation.  When  the  cortex  and 
the  psycho-sexual  centre  are  in  a  condition  of  hyperaesthesia 
(abnormal  excitability  of  the  imagination,  increased  ease 
of  association),  not  only  visual  and  tactile  impressions,  but 
also  auditory  and  olfactory  sensations,  may  be  sufficient 
to  call  up  lascivious  conceptions. 

Magnan  (op.  cit,)  reports  the  case  of  a  young  woman 
who  had  an  increasing  sexual  desire  from  puberty,  and 
satisfied  it  by  masturbation.  Gradually  she  grew  to  be- 
come sexually  excited  at  the  sight  of  any  man  pleasing  to 
her ;  and,  since  she  was  unable  to  control  herself,  she  would 
sometimes  shut  herself  up  in  a  room  until  the  storm  had 
passed.  At  last  she  gave  herself  up  to  men  of  her 
choice,  that  she  might  get  rest  from  her  tormenting  desire, 
but  neither  coitus  nor  masturbation  brought  relief,  and  she 
went  to  an  asylum. 

The  case  of  a  mother  of  five  children  is  added,  who,  in 
despair  about  her  inordinate  sexual  impulse,  attempted 
suicide,  and  then  sought  an  asylum.  There  her  condition 
improved,  but  she  never  trusted  herself  to  leave  it. 

There  are  several  illustrative  cases  in  men  and  women 
in  the  author's  article,  ^^On  Certain  Anomalies  of  Sexual 
Instinct,'^  cases  6  and  7  (^^Archiv  fiir  Psvchiatrie,''  vii., 
2). 

The  two  following  cases  show  how  powerful,  dangerous 
and  painful  sexual  hypersesthesia  may  become  in  those  af- 
flicted with  this  anomaly : — 

Case  12.  Hypercesthesia  sexualis.  Masturbatio 
coram  discipulis  in  schola, 

Z.,  36  years  of  age,  father  of  seven  children,  president 

that  of  ejaculation.  For  such  individuals,  all  that  is  necessary  to 
induce  orgasm  or  even  ejaculation,  is  to  imagine  themselves  in  a 
sexual  situation  with  a  female  that  sits  opposite  them  in  a  railway 
carriage  or  a  drawing-room.  Hammond  {op.  cit.,  p.  40)  describes 
several  cases  of  this  kind  that  came  to  him  for  treatment  or  subse- 
quent impotence,  and  he  mentions  that  these  individuals  used  the 
term  "ideal  coitus"  for  the  act.  Dr.  Moll,  of  Berlin,  told  me  of  a 
similar  case,  and  in  this  instance  the  same  designation  was  chosen 
for  the  act. 


CEEEBEAL  NEUROSES  HYPERESTHESIA.  75 


of  school,  confessed  that  he  committed  masturbation  in 
school  whilst  sitting  at  his  desk  which,  however,  prevented 
the  act  being  seen  by  the  pupils  as  it  was  encased  all 
around.  He  drank  more  than  usual  on  the  preceding 
evening,  had  been  provoked  to  anger  before  going  to  school, 
and  had  been  excited  by  the  sight  of  some  very  pretty  girls 
attending  his  lecture.  This  produced  a  violent  erection 
and  led  to  masturbation.  After  the  act  he  became  conscious 
at  once  of  his  compromising  position,  but  the  thought  that 
the  pupils  had  not  noticed  his  excitement  had  helped  him  to 
regain  self-possession. 

His  previous  conduct  being  without  a  blemish,  the  au- 
thorities suspected  a  pathological  condition  and  insisted 
upon  a  medical  examination  by  the  author. 

The  facts  elicited  were  the  following:  Z.  came  from 
healthy  parents.  Two  close  relations  were  epiletics.  At 
the  age  of  13  Z.  suffered  from  a  severe  concussion  of  the 
brain,  which  produced  an  acute  dementia  lasting  three 
weeks.  Since  that  time  frequent  spells  of  irritability  and 
intolerance  of  alcohol. 

At  the  age  of  16  awakening  of  vita  sexualis  with  ab- 
normal vigor  and  pronounced  sexual  emotions.  Lascivious 
literature  and  pictures  of  women  produced  satisfying  ejacu- 
lation. From  the  age  of  18  onward  he  indulged  now  and 
then  in  coitus.  But  as  a  rule  the  touching  of  a  woman's 
arm  sufficed  to  produce  orgasm  and  ejaculation.  He  mar- 
ried at  the  age  of  24  and  indulged  in  coitus  three  or  four 
times  daily,  and  besides  practised  masturbation,  coupled 
with  ideal  coitus. 

(See  footnote  on  page  73). 

With  the  birth  of  his  fourth  child  (three  years  ago)  Z. 
was  forced,  for  economical  reasons,  to  restrain  himself  from 
sexual  intercourse  as  he  despised  anticonceptional  means, 
T actus  feminarum,  which  produced  pollutio  diurna,  proved 
unsatisfactory  as  did  also  automasturbation.  He  suffered 
much  from  incessant  sexual  excitement,  which  at  the  end 
of  periods  of  six  weeks  became  so  strong  that  it  affected 
his  mind  and  will  power  sensibly.    Only  masturbation 


76 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


kept  iaim  from  committing  sexual  violence  on  women.  He 
became  very  irritable  and  easily  flew  into  passion,  yelled 
and  raged  about  the  house  and  even  beat  wife  and  children. 

It  often  happened  now  that  at  the  height  of  such  a  spell 
he  would  fall  over  and  become  unconscious,  rattling  from 
the  throat  in  a  peculiar  manner.  After  a  few  minutes  he 
would  recover  again  with  complete  amnesia  of  what  had 
happened.  An  attack  of  this  kind  had,  however,  not  pre- 
ceded the  act  w^ith  which  he  now  stood  charged,  but  had 
occurred  three  days  afterward. 

Z.  was  an  intelligent,  decent  man,  most  penitent  and 
filled  with  shame. 

He  understood  quite  well  that  he  could  no  longer  teach 
at  a  girl's  school  and  bewailed  his  unnatural,  unbridled 
sensuality. 

He  made  no  attempt  to  in  any  way  excuse  his  action, 
but  pointed  out  that  his  nervous  system  had  been  thor- 
oughly shaken  of  late  by  libido  insatiata  and  overwork  (les- 
sons up  to  twelve  hours  daily). 

Vegetative  functions  normal;  parietal  protuberance  of 
cranium ;  genitals  large,  lax,  but  normal. 

Patellar  reflexes  much  exaggerated. 

In  my  report  I  pointed  out  that  Z.  suffered  from  a 
pathologically  exaggerated  vita  sexualis  and  most  probably 
from  epilepsy,  and  had  committed  the  act  whilst  subject  to 
a  sexual  affection  which  depressed  the  power  of  self-con- 
trol to  a  minimum. 

Further  legal  proceedings  were  withdrawn.  Z.  was 
pensioned  off. 

Case  13.    On  11th  July,  1884,  R,  aged  thirty-three, 

servant,  was  admitted  suffering  with  paranoia  perseciitoria 
and  neurasthenia  sexualis.  Mother  was  neuropathic ;  father 
died  of  spinal  disease.  From  childhood  he  had  an  intense 
sexual  desire,  of  which  he  became  conscious  as  early  as  his 
sixth  year.  From  this  age,  masturbation;  from  fifteenth 
year,  faute  de  mieux,  pederasty ;  occasionally,  sodomitic  in- 
dulgences. Later,  abusus  coitus  in  matrimonio  cum  uxore. 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  HYPERESTHESIA.  77 


!N'ow  and  then  even  perverse  impulse  to  commit  cunnilingus 
and  to  administer  cantharides  to  his  wife,  because  her  libi- 
do did  not  equal  his  own.  His  wife  died  after  a  short 
period  of  married  life.  Patient's  circumstances  became 
straitened,  and  he  had  no  means  to  indulge  himself  sexu- 
ally. Then  masturbation  again;  employment  of  lingua 
canis  to  induce  ejaculation.  At  times,  priapism  and  con- 
ditions approaching  satyriasis.  He  was  then  driven  to 
masturbate  in  order  to  avoid  rape.  With  gradually  pre- 
dominating sexual  neurasthenia  and  hypochondria  came 
beneficial  diminution  of  libido  nimia. 

A  particular  species  of  hypercesthesia  sexualis  may  be 
found  in  females  in  whom  a  most  impulsive  desire  for  sexu- 
al intercourse  with  certain  men  imperatively  demands 
gratification.  'No  doubt  ^  ^unrequited  love"  for  another  man 
may  often  affect  the  married  woman  who  does  not  either 
psychically  or  physically  (impotentia  mariti)  experience 
connubial  satisfaction;  but  the  normal,  untainted  wife 
guided  by  ethical  reasons  knows  how  to  conquer  herself. 

Of  course,  pathological  conditions  change  the  situation. 

Fetichism  must  here  be  considered.  Sexual  impulse  is 
overpowering,  at  times  periodically  recurrent.  The  very 
attempt  to  overcome  it  produces  most  painful  attacks  of 
worry  and  anxiety.  This  pathological  want  becomes  so 
powerful  that  all  considerations  of  shame,  conventionality 
and  womanly  honour  simply  disappear,  and  it  reveals  itself 
in  the  most  shameless  manner  even  to  the  husband,  whilst 
the  normal  woman,  endowed  with  full  moral  consciousness, 
knows  how  to  conceal  the  terrible  secret. 

Magnan  (^^Psychiatr.  Vorlesungen")  quotes  two  strik- 
ing instances  from  his  own  experience.  One  is  specially 
instructive.  A  young  woman,  mother  of  three  children, 
with  a  blameless  past,  but  daughter  of  a  lunatic,  tells  her 
husband  one  day  openly  that  she  is  in  love  with  a  certain 
young  man  and  that  she  would  kill  herself  if  her  intimate 
relations  with  him  were  interfered  with.  She  begs  per- 
mission to  live  with  him  for  six  months  in  order  to  quench 


78 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


the  fire  of  her  passion,  when  she  would  return  to  her 
family  again.  Husband  and  children  have  no  place  in  her 
heart  with  her  present  love.  The  husband  took  her  to  a 
foreign  country  and  placed  her  there  under  medical  treat- 
ment. 

This  pathological  love  of  married  women  for  other  men 
is  a  phenomenon  in  the  domain  of  psychopathia  sexualis 
which  sadly  stands  in  need  of  scientific  explanation.  The 
author  has  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  five  cases  be- 
longing to  this  category.  The  pathological  conditions  were 
paroxysmal,  in  one  case  repeatedly  recurrent;  but  always 
sharply  distinct  from  the  unaffected,  healthy  period,  during 
which  deep  sorrow  and  contrition  over  the  occurrence  were 
manifested.  But  it  was  the  sorrow  over  an  unavoidable 
fatality  caused  by  psychically  abnormal  conditions. 

Whilst  the  pathological  conditions  lasted,  absolute  in- 
difference, even  hatred,  prevailed  towards  husband  and 
children,  and  an  utter  want  of  understanding  the  bearings 
and  consequences  of  the  scandalous  behaviour,  jeopardising 
the  honour  and  dignity  of  wife  and  family,  were  noticeable. 
It  is  remarkable  that  in  all  these  cases  the  husband  and 
relatives  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  condition  was 
caused  by  psychopathia,  even  before  they  had  obtained  ex- 
pert opinion. 

As  against  the  ^^non-psychopathicaF'  but  otherwise  ab- 
normally libidinous  Messalinas,  it  is  well  worthy  of  note 
that  this  sexual  aberration  is  only  an  episode  in  the  life  of 
the  otherwise  honourable  woman,  and  that  the  illicit  inter- 
course was  of  a  strictly  monogamic  character.  This,  and 
particularly  the  circumstance  that  the  unfortunate  woman 
was  not  omnium  virorum  mulier,  but  only  the  mistress  of 
one  man,  establishes  a  distinct  difference  from  nympho- 
mania. In  three  of  the  cases  mentioned  above,  the  grossly 
sensual  momentum  was  missing,  the  real  motive  for  marital 
infidelity  was  to  be  found  in  a  fetich-like  charm,  in  mental 
superior  qualities, — in  one  case  the  voice  of  the  charmer. 

In  two  cases  unmistakable  proofs  of  hypercesthesia 
sexualis  and  of  absolute  impotence  towards  the  husband 


CEREBRAL  NEUROSES  PARESTHESIA  OF  FEELING.  79 

were  found,  whilst  the  merest  touch  of  the  other  man  pro- 
duced orgasm,  and  the  sexual  act  the  acme  of  pleasure.  Of 
course,  in  these  latter  cases  absolute  sexual  abandonment 
followed. 

D.  Para^thesia  of  Sexual  Feeling  (Perversion  of  the  Sex- 
ual instinct). 

In  this  condition  there  is  perverse  emotional  colouring 
of  the  sexual  ideas.  Ideas  physiologically  and  psycho- 
logically accompanied  by  feelings  of  disgust,  give  rise  to 
pleasurable  sexual  feelings;  and  the  abnormal  association 
finds  expression  in  passionate,  uncontrollable  emotion.  The 
practical  results  are  perverse  acts  (perversion  of  the  sexual 
instinct).  This  is  more  easily  the  case  if  the  pleasurable 
feelings,  increased  to  passionate  intensity,  inhibit  any  op- 
posing ideas  with  corresponding  feelings  of  disgust ;  or  the 
influence  of  such  opposing  conceptions  may  be  rendered 
impossible  on  account  of  the  absence  or  loss  of  all  ideas  of 
morality,  aesthetics  and  law.  This  loss,  however,  is  only  too 
frequently  found  where  the  spring  well  of  ethical  ideas  and 
feelings  (a  normal  sexual  instinct)  has  been  poisoned  from 
the  beginning. 

With  opportunity  for  the  natural  satisfaction  of  the 
sexual  instinct,  every  expression  of  it  that  does  not  corre- 
spond with  the  purpose  of  nature — ix.^  propagation —  must 
be  regarded  as  perverse.  The  perverse  sexual  acts  resulting 
from  parsesthesia  are  of  the  greatest  importance  clinically, 
socially,  and  f orensically ;  and,  therefore,  they  must  here 
receive  careful  consideration;  all  aesthetic  and  moral  dis- 
gust must  be  overcome. 

Perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct,  as  will  be  seen  farther 
on,  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  perversity  in  the  sexual 
act;  since  the  latter  may  be  induced  by  conditions  other 
than  psycho-pathological.  The  concrete  perverse  act,  mon- 
strous as  it  may  be,  is  clinically  not  decisive.  In  order 
to  differentiate  between  disease  (perversion)  and  vice  (per- 
versity)^ one  must  investigate  the  whole  personality  of  the 


80 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


individual  and  the  original  motive  leading  to  the  perverse 
act.   Therein  will  be  found  the  key  to  the  diagnosis  (v.  in- 

Parsesthesia  may  occur  in  combination  with  hyperses- 
thesia.  This  association  seems  to  be  frequent  clinically. 
Sexual  acts  are  then  confidently  to  be  expected.  The  per- 
verse direction  of  sexual  activity  may  be  toward  sexual 
satisfaction  wdth  the  opposite  or  the  same  sex.  Thus  two 
great  groups  of  perversions  of  sexual  life  may  be  distin- 
guished. 

I.  Sexual  Inclination  Toward  Persons  of  the  Opposite 
Sex,  with  Perverse  Activity  of  the  Instinct. 

1.  Sadism,^    Association  of  Active  Cruelty  and  Violence 

with  Lust. 

Sadism,  especially  in  its  rudimentary  manifestations, 
seems  to  be  of  common  occurrence  in  the  domain  of  sexual 
perversion.  Sadism  is  the  experience  of  sexual  pleasurable 
sensations  (including  orgasm)  produced  by  acts  of  cruelty, 
bodily  punishment  afflicted  on  one's  own  person  or  when 
witnessed  in  others,  be  they  animals  or  human  beings.  It 
may  also  consist  of  an  innate  desire  to  humiliate,  hurt, 
w^ound  or  even  destroy  others  in  order  thereby  to  create 
sexual  pleasure  in  one's  self. 

Thus  it  will  happen  that  one  of  the  consorts  in  sexual 
heat  will  strike,  bite^  or  pinch  the  other,  that  kissing  de- 
generates into  biting.  Lovers  and  young  married  couples 
are  fond  of  teasing  each  other,  they  wrestle  together  ^^just 

^So  named  from  the  notorious  Marquis  de  Sade,  whose  obscene 
novels  treat  of  lust  and  cruelty.    In  French  literature  the  expression 
Sadism  "  has  been  applied  to  this  perversion.    Eulenhurg  ( "  Klin. 
Handb.  der  Harn  und  Sexual-organe uses  the  term  "active  algo- 
lagnia" in  connection  vdt\\  these  phenomena. 

^  Moll,  Contr.  Sexualempfindung,  3d  ed.,  p.  160;  Krafft-Ehing 
Arheiten "  iv.,  p.  106 ;  Idem,  Leijden's  Germcm  clinic,  vi.  Sect.  2, 
p.  137;  Eulenburg,  Grenzfragen  des  Nerven-und  Seelenlehens,  xxi. 
1, 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  81 

for  fun/'  indulge  in  all  sorts  of  horseplay.  The  transition 
from  these  atavistic  manifestations,  which  no  doubt  be- 
long to  the  sphere  of  physiological  sexuality,  to  the  most 
monstrous  acts  of  destruction  of  the  consort's  life  can  be 
readily  traced. 

Where  the  husband  forces  the  wife  by  menaces  and 
other  violent  means  to  the  conjugal  act,  we  can  no  longer 
describe  such  as  a  normal  physiological  manifestation,  but 
must  ascribe  it  to  sadistic  impulses.  It  seems  probable 
that  this  sadistic  force  is  developed  by  the  natural  shyness 
and  modesty  of  woman  towards  the  aggressive  manners  of 
the  male,  especially  during  the  earlier  periods  of  married 
life  and  particularly  where  the  husband  is  hypersexual. 
Woman  no  doubt  derives  pleasure  from  her  innate  coyness 
and  the  final  victory  of  man  affords  her  intense  and  refined 
gratification.  Hence  the  frequent  recurrence  of  these  little 
love  comedies. 

A  further  development  of  these  sadistic  traces  may  ba 
found  in  men  who  demand  the  sexual  act  in  unusual  places^ 
for  this  seems  to  offer  an  opportunity  to  him  to  show  his 
superiority  over  woman,  to  provoke  her  defense  and  delight 
in  her  subsequent  confusion  and  abashment. 

Case  14.  One  of  my  patients,  hereditarily  tainted,  a 
crank,  married  to  an  extremely  handsome  woman  of  very 
vivacious  temperament,  became  impotent  when  he  saw  her 
beautiful,  pure  white  skin  and  her  elegant  toilet,  but  was 
quite  potent  with  any  ordinary  wench,  no  matter  how  dirty 
(Fetichism).  But  it  would  happen  that  during  a  lonely 
walk  with  her  in  the  country  he  would  suddenly  force  her 
to  have  coitus  in  a  meadow,  or  behind  a  shrub.  The 
stronger  she  refused  the  more  excited  he  became  with  per- 
fect potency.  The  same  would  happen  in  places  where 
there  was  a  risk  of  being  discovered  in  the  act,  for  instance, 
in  the  railway  train,  in  the  lavatory  of  a  restaurant.  But 
at  home  in  his  own  bed  he  was  quite  devoid  of  cupido. 

In  the  civilized  man  of  to-day,  in  so  far  as  he  is  un- 
tainted, associations  between  lust  and  cruelty  are  found, 

6  ^ 


82 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


but  in  a  weak  and  rather  rudimentary  degree.  If  such 
therefore  occur  and  in  fact  even  light  atrocious  manifesta- 
tions thereof,  they  must  be  attributed  to  distorted  disposi- 
tions (sexual  and  motoric  spheres). 

They  are  due  to  an  awakening  of  latent  psychical  dispo- 
sitions, occasioned  by  external  circumstances  which  in  no 
wise  affect  the  normal  individual.  They  are  not  accidental 
deviations  of  sentiment  or  instinct  in  the  sense  as  given  by 
the  modern  doctrine  of  association.  Sadistic  sensations 
may  often  be  traced  back  to  early  childhood  and  exist  dur- 
ing a  period  of  life  when  their  revival  can  by  no  manner 
of  means  be  attributed  to  external  impressions,  much  less  to 
sexual  temper. 

Sadism  must,  therefore,  like  Masochism  and  the  anti- 
pathic sexual  instinct,  be  counted  among  the  originary 
anomalies  of  the  vita  sexualis.  It  is  a  disturbance  (a  de- 
viation) in  the  evolution  of  psychosexual  processes  sprout- 
ing from  the  soil  of  psychical  degeneration. 

That  lust  and  cruelty  often  occur  together  is  a  fact  that 
has  long  been  recognised  and  is  frequently  observed.  Wri- 
ters of  all  kinds  have  called  attention  to  this  phenomenon.^ 

Blumrdder  (^^TJeber  Irresein,"  Leipzig,  1836,  p.  51) 
saw  a  man  who  had  several  wounds  in  the  pectoral  muscle, 
which  a  woman,  in  great  sexual  excitement,  had  bitten  at 
the  acme  of  lustful  feeling  during  coitus.  The  same  author 
(^^Ueber  Lust  und  Schmerz,^^  Friedreich's  ^^Magazin  fiir 
Seelenkunde,  1830,  ii.,  5)  calls  especial  attention  to  the 
psychological  connection  between  lust  and  murder.  In  re- 
lation to  this,  he  especially  refers  to  the  Indian  myths  of 
Siva  and  Durga  (Death  and  Lust)  ;  to  human  sacrifice  with 
voluptuous  mysteries;  and  to  sexual  instinct  at  puberty 
with  a  lustful  impulse  to  suicide,  with  whipping,  pinching, 
and  pricking  of  the  genitals,  in  the  blind  impulse  to  satisfy 
sexual  desire.    Lomhroso  (^^Verzeni  e  Agnoletti,''  Rome, 

^  Cf,  also  Alfred  de  Musset's  famous  verses  to  the  Andalusian 
girl: — "  Qu'elle  est  superbe  en  son  d^sordre — quand  elle  tombe  les 
seins  nus — Qu'on  la  voit,  b^ante,  se  tordre — dans  un  baiser  de  ragf'  et 
mordre — 

En  hurlant  des  mots  ineonnus!" 


SEXUAL  IlSrCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  83 

1874)  also  cites  numerous  examples  of  the  occurrence  of  a 
desire  to  murder  with  greatly  increased  lust. 

Ball  quotes  in  his  ^^Clinique  St.  Anne"  the  case  of  a 
powerful  epileptic  who  during  coitus  bit  off  pieces  of  his 
consort's  nose  and  swallowed  them. 

Ferriani  (Archiv.  delle  psicopatie  sessuali  1.  1896,  p. 
106)  speaks  of  a  young  man  who  used  to  wrestle  with  his 
inamorata  before  coitus,  bit  and  pinched  her  during  the 
act  ^^because  he  felt  otherwise  no  gratification.''  One  day, 
however,  he  hurt  the  girl  too  much  and  she  brought  an  ac- 
tion against  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  homicidal  mania  has  been  ex- 
cited, lust  often  follows.  Lombroso  (op.  cit.)  alludes  to 
the  fact  mentioned  by  Mantegazza.,  that  to  the  terrors  of 
spoliation  and  plunder  by  bandits  generally  are  added  those 
of  brutal  lust  and  rape.^  These  examples  form  transitions 
to  the  pronounced  pathological  cases. 

The  examples  of  the  degenerate  Caesars  (ISTero,  Tiberi- 
us) are  also  instructive.  They  took  delight  in  having 
youths  and  maidens  slaughtered  before  their  eyes.  ITot  less 
so  is  the  history  of  that  monster,  Marschalls  Gilles  de  Rays 
(Jacob,  ^^Curiosites  de  I'histoire  de  France,''  Paris,  1858), 
who  was  executed  in  1440,  on  account  of  mutilation  and 
murder,  which  he  had  practised  for  eight  years  on  more 
than  800  children.  As  the  monster  confessed  it,  it  was 
from  reading  Suetonius  and  the  descriptions  of  the  orgies 
of  Tiberius,  Caracalla,  etc.,  that  the  idea  was  gained  of 
locking  children  in  his  castles,  torturing  them,  and  then 
killing  them.  This  inhuman  wretch  confessed  that  in  the 
commission  of  these  acts  he  enjoyed  inexpressible  pleasure. 
He  had  two  assistants.   The  bodies  of  the  unfortunate  chil- 

^During  the  excitement  of  battle  the  idea  of  lust  forces  its  way 
into  consciousness.    Of.  the  description  of  a  battle,  by  a  soldier,  by 

Grillparzer: — 

"  And  as  the  signal  rang  out,  the  armies  met,  breast  to  breast — 
lust  of  the  gods — here,  there,  the  murderous  steel  slays  enemy, 
friend.  Given  and  taken — death  and  life — with  wavering  change — 
wildly  raging  in  frenzy  "  ( "  Dream  a  Life,"  A.ct  i. )  • 


84 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


dren  were  burned,  and  only  a  number  of  heads  of  partic- 
ularly beautiful  children  were  preserved — as  memorials. 

Cf.  Eulenburg,  op.  cit.  p.  58,  where  he  gives  satisfac- 
tory proofs  of  Eays'  insanity ;  also,  in  ^^Die  Zukunft, 

vii.,  Jahrg.  IsTo.  26; — Bossard  et  Maulle,  Gilles  de  Rays, 
dit  Barbe-Bleu,  Paris,  1886  {Champion)  ;  Michelet,  his- 
toire  de  France,  Tome  vi.,  p.  316-326;  Bibliotheque  de 
Criminologie,  t.  xix.,  Paris,  1899,  p.  245. 

In  an  attempt  to  explain  the  association  of  lust  and 
cruelty,  it  is  necessary  to  return  to  a  consideration  of  the 
quasi-physiological  cases,  in  which,  at  the  moment  of  most 
intense  lust,  very  excitable  individuals,  who  are  otherwise 
normal,  commit  such  acts  as  biting  and  scratching,  which 
are  usually  due  to  anger.  It  must  further  be  remembered 
that  love  and  anger  are  not  only  the  most  intense  emotions, 
but  also  the  only  two  forms  of  robust  (sthenic)  emotion. 
Both  seek  their  object,  try  to  possess  themselves  of  it,  and 
naturally  exhaust  themselves  in  a  physical  effect  on  it; 
both  throw  the  psycho-motor  sphere  into  the  most  intense 
excitement,  and  thus,  by  means  of  this  excitation,  reach 
their  normal  expression. 

From  this  standpoint  it  is  clear  how  lust  impels  to 
acts  that  otherwise  are  expressive  of  anger.^  The  one,  like 
the  other,  is  a  state  of  exaltation,  an  intense  excitation  of 
the  entire  psycho-motor  sphere.  Thus  there  arises  an  im- 
pulse to  react  on  the  object  that  induces  the  stimulus,  in 
every  possible  way,  and  with  the  greatest  intensity.  Just 
as  maniacal  exaltation  easily  passes  to  raging  destructive- 
ness,  so  exaltation  of  the  sexual  emotion  often  induces  an 
impulse  to  spend  itself  in  senseless  and  apparently  harm- 
ful acts.  To  a  certain  extent  these  are  psychical  accom- 
paniments ;  but  it  is  not  simply  an  unconscious  excitation 
of  innervation  of  muscles  (which  also  sometimes  occurs  as 
blind  violence)  ;  it  is  a  true  hyperbole,  a  desire  to  exert 

^Schulz  ("Wiener  Med.  Wochenschrift,"  No.  49,  1869)  reports  a 
remarkable  case  of  a  man,  aged  twenty-eight,  who  could  perform 
coitus  with  his  wife  only  after  working  himself  into  an  artificial  fit 
of  anger. 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  85 

the  utmost  possible  effect  upon  the  individual  giving  rise  to 
the  stimulus.  The  most  intense  means,  however,  is  the  in- 
fliction of  pain. 

Through  such  cases  of  infliction  of  pain  during  the  most 
intense  emotion  of  lust,  we  approach  the  cases  in  which  a 
real  injury,  wound,  or  death  is  inflicted  on  the  victim/  In 
these  cases  the  impulse  to  cruelty  which  may  accompany  the 
emotion  of  lust,  becomes  unbounded  in  a  psychopathic  in- 
dividual ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  owing  to  defect  of  moral 
feeling,  all  normal  inhibitory  ideas  are  absent  or  weak- 
ened. 

Such  monstrous,  sadistic  acts  have,  however,  in  men, 
in  whom  they  are  much  more  frequent  than  in  women, 
another  source  in  physiological  conditions.  In  the  inter- 
course of  the  sexes,  the  active  or  aggressive  role  belongs  to 
man;  woman  remains  passive,  defensive.^  It  affords  man 
great  pleasure  to  win  a  woman,  to  conquer  her ;  and  in  the 
ars  amandi,  the  modesty  of  woman,  who  keeps  herself  on 
the  defensive  until  the  moment  of  surrender,  is  an  element 
of  great  psychological  significance  and  importance.  Under 
normal  conditions  man  meets  obstacles  which  it  is  his  part 
to  overcome,  and  for  which  nature  has  given  him  an  ag- 
gressive character.  This  aggressive  character,  however, 
under  pathological  conditions  may  likewise  be  excessively 
developed,  and  express  itself  in  an  impulse  to  subdue  abso- 
lutely the  object  of  desire,  even  to  destroy  or  kill  it.^ 

^Concerning  analogous  acts  in  rutting  animals,  vide  Lomhroso, 
"The  Criminal." 

'Among  animals  it  is  always  the  male  who  pursues  the  female 
with  proffers  of  love.  Playful  or  actual  flight  of  the  female  is  not 
Infrequently  observed;  and  then  the  relation  is  like  that  between  the 
beast  of  prey  and  the  victim, 

"The  conquest  of  woman  takes  place  to-day  in  the  social  form  of 
courting,  m  seduction  and  deception^  etc.  From  the  history  of  civili- 
sation and  anthropology  we  know  that  there  have  been  times,  as 
there  are  savages  to-day  that  practice  it,  where  brutal  force,  robbery, 
or  even  blows  that  rendered  a  woman  powerless,  were  made  use  ot 
to  obtain  love's  desire.  It  is  possible  that  tendencies  to  such  out- 
breaks of  sadism  are  atavistic 

In  the  Jahrbucher  fur  Psychologic,''  ii.,  p.  128,  Schdfer  (Jena) 
refers  to  the  reports  of  two  cases  by  A.  Payer.    In  the  first  case 


86 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


If  both  these  constituent  elements  occur  together — ^the 
abnormally  intensified  impulse  to  a  violent  reaction  toward 
the  object  of  the  stimulus,  and  the  abnormally  intensified 
desire  to  conquer  the  woman, — then  the  most  violent  out- 
breaks of  sadism  occur. 

Sadism  is  thus  nothing  else  than  an  excessive  and  mon- 
strous pathological  intensification  of  phenomena, — possible, 
too,  in  normal  conditions  in  rudimental  forms, — which  ac- 
company the  psychical  vita  sexualis,  particularly  in  males. 
It  is  of  course  not  at  all  necessary,  and  not  even  the  rule, 
that  the  sadistic  individual  should  be  conscious  of  his  in- 
stinct. What  he  feels  is,  as  a  rule,  only  the  impulse  to  cruel 
and  violent  treatment  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  the  colouring 
of  the  idea  of  such  acts  with  lustful  feelings.  Thus  arises 
a  powerful  impulse  to  commit  the  imagined  deeds.  In  as 
far  as  the  actual  motives  of  this  instinct  are  not  compre- 
hended by  the  individual,  the  sadistic  acts  have  the  char- 
acter of  impulsive  deeds. 

When  the  association  of  lust  and  cruelty  is  present,  not 
only  does  the  lustful  emotion  awaken  the  impulse  to 
cruelty,  hut  vice  versa;  cruel  ideas  and  acts  of  cruelty  cause 
sexual  excitement,  and  in  this  way  are  used  by  perverse 
individuals.^ 

states  of  great  sexual  excitement  were  induced  by  tlie  sight  of  bat- 
tles or  of  paintings  of  them;  in  the  second,  by  cruel  torturing  of 
small  animals.  It  is  added :  "  The  pleasure  of  battle  and  murder  is 
so  predominantly  an  attribute  of  the  male  sex  throughout  the  animal 
kingdom  that  there  can  be  no  question  about  the  close  relation  exist- 
ing between  this  side  of  the  masculine  character  and  male  sexuality. 
1  believe,  too,  that  by  unprejudiced  observation  I  can  show  that,  in 
men  who  are  mentally  and  physically  absolutely  normal,  the  first 
indefinite  and  incomprehensible  precursors  of  sexual  excitement  may 
be  induced  by  the  reading  of  exciting  scenes  of  the  chase  and  war — 
i,  e.,  they  give  rise  to  unconscious  longings  for  a  kind  of  satisfaction 
in  warlike  games  (wrestling),  in  which  the  fundamental  sexual  im- 
pulse to  the  most  perfect  and  intense  contact  with  a  companion  is 
expressed,  with  the  secondary  thought  of  conquest  more  or  less 
clearly  defined." 

*  It  sometimes  happens  that  an  accidental  sight  of  blood,  etc., 
puts  into  motion  the  preformed  psychical  mechanism  of  the  sadistic 
individual  and  awakens  the  instinct. 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWAED  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  87 

A  differentiation  of  original  and  acquired  cases  of  sad- 
ism is  scarcely  possible.  Many  individuals,  tainted  ah 
originej  for  a  long  time  do  everything  to  conquer  the  per- 
verse instinct.  If  they  are  potent,  they  are  able  for  some 
time  to  lead  a  normal  vita  sexualis^  often  with  the  assist- 
ance of  fanciful  ideas  of  a  perverse  nature.  Later,  when 
the  opposing  motives  of  an  ethical  and  sesthetic  kind  have 
been  gradually  overcome,  and  when  oft-repeated  experience 
has  proved  the  natural  act  to  give  but  incomplete  satisfac- 
tion, the  abnormal  instinct  suddenly  bursts  forth.  Owing 
to  this  late  expression,  in  acts,  of  an  originally  perverse  dis- 
position, the  appearances  are  those  of  an  acquired  perver- 
sion. As  a  rule,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  this  psycho- 
pathic state  exists  ab  origine. 

Sadistic  acts  vary  in  monstrousness  according  to  the 
power  exercised  by  the  perverse  instinct  over  the  individual 
thus  afflicted,  and  in  accordance  with  the  strength  of  op- 
posing ideas  that  may  be  present,  which  nearly  always  are 
more  or  less  weakened  by  original  ethical  defects,  heredi- 
tary degeneracy,  or  moral  insanity.  Thus  there  arises  a 
long  series  of  forms  which  begins  with  capital  crime  and 
ends  with  paltry  acts  affording  merely  symbolic  satisfaction 
to  the  perverse  desires  of  the  sadistic  individual. 

Sadistic  acts  may  be  further  differentiated  according 
to  their  nature;  either  taking  place  after  consummated 
coitus  which  leaves  the  libido  nimia  unsatisfied;  or,  with 
diminished  virility,  being  undertaken  to  merely  stimulate 
the  diminished  power;  or,  finally,  where  virility  is  abso- 
lutely wanting,  as  becoming  simply  an  equivalent  for  im- 
possible coitus,  and  for  the  induction  of  ejaculation.  In 
the  last  two  cases,  notwithstanding  impotence,  there  is  still 
intense  libido ;  or  there  was,  at  least,  intense  libido  in  the 
individual  at  the  time  when  the  sadistic  acts  became  a 
habit.  Sexual  hypergesthesia  must  always  be  regarded  as 
the  basis  of  sadistic  inclinations.  The  impotence  which  oc* 
curs  so  frequently  in  psychopathic  and  neuropathic  indi- 
viduals here  considered,  resulting  from  excesses  practised 
in  early  youth,  is  usually  dependent  upon  spinal  weakne^ 


88 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Often,  too,  there  is  a  kind  of  psychical  impotence,  super- 
induced by  concentration  of  thought  on  the  perverse  act 
with  simultaneous  fading  of  the  idea  of  normal  satisfaction. 
No  matter  what  the  external  form  of  the  act  may  be,  the 
mentally  perverse  predisposition  and  instinct  of  the  indi- 
vidual are  essential  to  an  understanding  of  it. 

(a)  Lust-Murder^  (Lust  Potentiated  as  Cruelty^  Murder- 
ous Lust  Extending  to  Anthropophagy) . 

The  most  horrible  example,  and  one  which  most  point- 
edly shows  the  connection  between  lust  and  a  desire  to  kill, 
is  the  case  of  Andreas  Bichel,  which  Feuerbach  published 
in  his  ^"^Aktenmassige  Darstellung  merkwiirdiger  Ver- 
brechen'\ 

B.  puellas  stupratas  necavit  et  dissecuit.  With  reference 
to  one  of  his  victims,  at  his  examination  he  expressed  him- 
self as  follows:  ^^I  opened  her  breast  and  with  a  knife 
cut  through  the  fleshy  parts  of  the  body.  Then  I  arranged 
the  body  as  a  butcher  does  beef,  and  hacked  it  with  an  axe 
into  pieces  of  a  size  to  fit  the  hole  which  I  had  dug  up  in  the 
mountain  for  burying  it.  I  may  say  that  while  opening 
the  body  I  was  so  greedy  that  I  trembled,  and  could  have 
cut  out  a  piece  and  eaten  it." 

Lomhroso,  too  (^^Geschlechtstrieb  und  Verbrechen  in 
ihren  gegenseitigen  Beziehungen".  "Goltdammers  Archiv/' 
Bd.  XXX.),  mentions  cases  falling  in  the  same  category.  A 
certain  Phillipe  indulged  in  strangling  prostitutes,  post 
actum,  and  said :  ^^I  am  fond  of  women,  but  it  is  sport  for 
me  to  strangle  them  after  having  enjoyed  them". 

A  certain  Grassi  {Lomhroso,  op,  cit.,  p.  12)  was  one 
night  seized  with  sexual  desire  for  a  relative.  Irritated  by 
her  remonstrance,  he  stabbed  her  several  times  in  the  ab* 

Cf.  "  Metzger's  ger.  Arzneiw.,  lierausgegeben  von  Remer,"  p. 
539;  Klein's  Annalen,"  x.,  p.  176;  xviii.,  p.  311;  Eeinroth,  "  System 
der  psych.  Med.,"  p.  270;  Fewer  Pitaval,  1855,  23  Th.  ("Fall 
Blaize  Ferrage"). 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  89 

domen  with  a  knife,  and  also  murdered  her  father  and 
uncle  who  attempted  to  hold  him  back.  Immediately  there- 
after he  hastened  to  visit  a  prostitute  in  order  to  cool  in 
her  embrace  his  sexual  passion.  But  this  was  not  suificient, 
for  he  then  murdered  his  own  father  and  slaughtered  sev- 
eral oxen  in  the  stable. 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  after  the  foregoing,  that  a  great 
number  of  so-called  lust  murders  depend  upon  combined 
hypersesthesia  and  parsesthesia  sexualis.  As  a  result  of 
this  perverse  colouring  of*  the  feelings,  further  acts  of 
bestiality  with  the  corpse  may  result — e,g,,  cutting  it  up 
and  wallowing  in  the  intestines.  The  case  of  Bichel  points 
to  this  possibility. 

A  modern  example  is  that  of  Menesclou  (^^Annales 
d'hygiene  publique"),  who  was  examined  by  Lasegue, 
Brouardel  and  Motet,  declared  to  be  mentally  sound,  and 
executed. 

Case  15.  A  four-year-old  girl  was  missing  from  her 
parents'  home,  15th  April,  1880.  On  16th  April,  Menes- 
clou, one  of  the  occupants  of  the  house,  was  arrested.  The 
forearm  of  the  child  was  found  in  his  pocket,  and  the  head 
and  entrails,  in  a  half -charred  condition,  were  taken  from 
the  stove.  Other  parts  of  the  body  were  found  in  the  water- 
closet.  The  genitals  could  not  be  found.  M.,  when  asked 
their  whereabouts,  became  embarrassed.  The  circum- 
stances, as  well  as  an  obscene  poem  found  on  his  person, 
left  no  doubt  that  he  had  violated  the  child  and  then  mur- 
dered her.  M.  expressed  no  remorse,  asserting  that  his  deed 
was  an  unhappy  accident.  His  intelligence  was  limited. 
He  presented  no  anatomical  signs  of  degeneration;  some- 
what deaf  and  scrofulous. 

Age  twenty. 

Convulsions  at  the  age  of  nine  months.  Later  he  suf- 
fered from  disturbed  sleep  (enuresis  nocturna)  ;  was  nerv- 
ous, and  developed  tardily  and  imperfectly.  With  puberty 
he  became  irritable,  showed  evil  inclinations,  was  lazy,  in- 
tractable, and  in  all  trades  proved  to  be  of  no  use.   He  grew 


90 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


no  better  even  in  the  House  of  Correction.  He  was  made  a 
marine^  but  tliere^  too,  he  proved  useless.  When  he  re- 
turned home  he  stole  from  his  parents,  and  spent  his  time 
in  bad  company.  He  did  not  run  after  Tromen,  but  gave 
himself  up  passionately  to  masturbation,  and  occasionally 
indulged  in  sodomy  ^ith  bitches.  His  mother  suffered  with 
mania  menstrualis  periodica.  An  uncle  was  insane,  and 
another  a  drunkard.  The  examination  of  M.'s  brain  showed 
morbid  changes  of  the  frontal  lobes,  of  the  first  and  second 
temporal  convolutions,  and  of  a  part  of  the  occipital  con- 
volutions. 

Case  16.  Alton,  a  clerk  in  England,  went  for  a 
walk  out  of  town.  He  lured  a  child  into  a  thicket.  After- 
wards at  his  office  he  made  this  entry  in  his  note-book: 
^^Killed  to-day  a  young  girl;  it  was  fine  and  hot."  The 
child  was  missed,  searched  for,  and  found  cut  into  pieces. 
Many  parts,  and  among  them  the  genitals,  could  not  be 
found.  A.  did  not  show  the  slightest  trace  of  emotion,  and 
gave  no  explanation  of  the  motive  or  circumstances  of  his 
horrible  deed.  He  was  a  psychopathic  individual,  and  oc- 
casionally subject  to  fits  of  depression  with  tcediuyn  vHce. 
His  father  had  had  an  attack  of  acute  mania.  A  near  rela- 
tive suffered  from  mania  with  homicidal  impulses.  A.  was 
executed. 

Case  17.  Jack  the  Ripper. — On  December  1,  1887, 
July  7,  August  8,  September  30,  one  day  in  the  month  of 
October  and  on  the  9th  of  Xovember,  1888;  on  the  1st  of 
June,  the  17th  of  July  and  the  10th  of  September,  1889, 
the  bodies  of  women  were  found  in  various  lonely  quarters 
of  London  ripped  open  and  mutilated  in  a  peculiar  fashion. 
The  murderer  has  never  been  foimd.  It  is  probable  that  he 
first  cut  the  throats  of  his  victims,  then  ripped  open  the 
abdomen  and  groped  among  the  intestines.  In  some  in- 
stances he  cut  off  the  genitals  and  carried  them  away;  in 
others  he  only  tore  them  to  pieces  and  left  them  behind. 
He  does  not  seem  to  have  had  sexual  intercourse  with  his 


SEXUAL  INCLIISTATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  91 


victims,  but  vary  likely  the  murderous  act  and  subsequent 
mutilation  of  the  corpse  were  equivalents  for  the  sexual 
act.  (McDonald,  le  criminal  type,  2  edit.,  Lyon,  1884; — 
Spitzha,  The  Journal  of  Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases, 
1888,  December; — Kierman,  The  Medical  Standard,  1888, 
l^ov.  and  Dec.) 

Case  18.  Vacher,  the  Eipper. — On  the  31st  August, 
1895,  Portalier,  seventeen  years  old,  a  shepherd,  was 
found  naked  in  the  field.  The  belly  was  ripped  open  and 
the  body  bore  other  wounds  besides.  Examination  showed 
that  the  victim  had  been  strangled  first.  On  the  4th 
August,  1897,  a  tramp,  named  Vacher,  was  arrested  on 
suspicion  of  having  committed  this  crime.  He  confessed 
to  it  as  well  as  to  numerous  other  acts  of  a  similar  nature 
that  had  been  perpetrated  in  various  parts  of  France  since 
1894.  He  claimed  that  at  the  time  when  he  committed  the 
crimes  he  suffered  from  temporary  insanity  and  irresistible 
impulse,  in  fact,  was  a  madman.  Medical  examination, 
however,  proved  that  Vacher  was  mentis  compos  when  he 
committed  these  atrocious  deeds,  fled  after  their  commis- 
sion and  had  a  very  clear  memory  of  the  facts. 

V.  was  born  in  1869  of  honourable  parents  and  be- 
longed to  a  mentally  soimd  family.  He  never  had  a  severe 
illness,  was  from  his  earliest  infancy  vicious,  lazy  and  shy 
of  work.  When  twenty  he  had  immorally  assaulted  a  small 
child.  During  his  military  service  he  had  gained  for  him- 
self a  very  bad  reputation  and  was  in  1893  discharged  from 
his  regiment  on  account  of  ^^psychical  disturbances"  (con- 
fused talk,  persecution-mania,  threatening  language,  ex- 
treme irritability).  In  1893  he  wounded  a  girl  because 
she  refused  to  marry  him,  then  made  an  attempt  at  suicide 
(he  shot  himself  through  the  right  ear,  which  left  him  deaf 
on  that  side  and  produced  facial  paralysis).  He  was  sent 
to  an  insane  asylum  and  there  treated  for  persecution- 
mania.  On  April  1,  1894,  he  was  dismissed  as  cured.  He 
began  to  tramp  about  the  country  and  committed  the  fol- 
lowing horrible  crimes:   On  March  20,  1894,  he  strangled 


92 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


Delhomme,  twenty-one  years  old,  cut  her  throat,  trampled 
upon  her  abdomen,  tore  out  a  portion  of  her  right  breast 
and  then  had  coitus  with  the  corpse.  The  same  atrocity, 
but  without  ravaging  the  bodies,  he  committed  on  Novem- 
ber 20,  1894,  on  a  girl  of  the  name  of  Marcel,  13  years 
of  age,  and  on  May  12,  1895,  on  another  girl  named 
Mortureux,  17  years  of  age.  On  August  24,  1895,  he 
strangled  and  then  ravaged  a  lady  of  the  name  of  Morand, 
58  years  old,  and  on  the  22d  he  cut  the  throat  of  Allaise, 
a  sixteen  year  old  girl  and  attempted  to  rip  her  abdomen 
open.  On  September  29,  he  committed  the  same  crime — 
as  later  on  on  Portalier — on  Palet,  a  fifteen-year-old  boy, 
but  in  this  instance  he  also  cut  off  the  genitals  of  the  boy 
and  sexually  assaulted  the  corpse. 

On  the  1st  of  March,  1896,  he  attempted  rape  on 
Deronet,  a  girl  eleven  years  old,  but  was  scared  off  by 
the  field  police.  On  the  10th  of  September,  he  committed 
his  usual  atrocity  on  a  Mrs.  Mounier,  just  married,  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  and  on  the  1st  of  October,  on  Rodier,  a 
shepherdess,  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  cut  out  her  genitals 
and  carried  them  away.  Toward  the  end  of  May,  1897, 
he  killed  a  tramp  boy,  fourteen  years  old,  named  Beaupied, 
by  cutting  his  throat.  The  corpse  he  threw  down  into  a 
well.  On  June  18th  he  murdered  a  shepherd  boy,  thirteen 
years  old,  named  Laurent,  and  committed  pederasty  on 
the  corpse.  Soon  afterward  he  made  an  attempt  on  a 
Mrs.  Plantier,  but  she  was  rescued.  Unfortunately  they 
allowed  him  to  go  unpunished. 

Lacassagne,  Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine  in  Lyon, 
Pierrelj,  Professor  of  Psychiatry,  and  Rebatel,  specialist 
on  insanity,  were  the  experts  in  this  atrocious  murder 
trial.  They  found  no  hereditary  taints,  no  cerebral  dis- 
ease, nor  traces  of  epilepsy.  V.  was  not  particularly  bright, 
very  irascible  from  his  earliest  years,  vicious  and  fond  of 
maltreating  animals.  ISTo  one  retained  him  long  in  service. 
He  entered  a  monastery,  but  was  soon  dismissed  as  he 
began  to  masturbate  his  comrades.  He  could  not  find  em- 
ployment on  account  of  immorality  and  ill  temper.  He 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  93 

was  not  a  drinker.  In  the  army  he  was  feared  and 
shunned.  One  day  when  he  was  disappointed  by  not  be- 
ing made  a  corporal,  he  flew  into  a  passion,  attacked  his 
superior  and  became  delirious.  He  was  taken  to  the  in- 
firmary and  thence  sent  to  the  insane  asylum.  His  com- 
rades did  not  consider  him  normal.  During  his  spells  of 
rage  he  was  uncontrollable  and  considered  dangerous. 
He  always  threatened  others  with  cutting  their  throats,  and 
was  thought  capable  of  doing  such  an  act.  He  slept  badly, 
constantly  dreamed  of  murder,  and  often  was  delirious  dur- 
ing the  night,  so  that  no  one  cared  for  sleeping  near  him. 

At  the  asylum  he  was  found  to  suffer  from  persecution- 
mania  and  was  considered  a  dangerous  character.  Never- 
theless he  was  dismissed  as  cured. 

Subsequently  he  became  guilty  of  eleven  murders, 
which  are  acts  of  sadism,  lust  murders.  They  consisted  of 
strangling,  cutting  of  the  throat  and  ripping  open  of  the 
abdomen,  mutilation  of  the  corpse,  especially  the  genitals, 
eventually  gratification  of  the  sexual  lust  on  the  corpse. 

It  was  definitely  proved  that  V.  acted  in  cold  blood, 
was  quite  conscious  of  his  actions  and  suffered  from  no 
psychical  abnormality. 

He  committed  the  crimes  in  various  sections  of  France, 
traversing  the  country  in  every  direction. 

There  were  no  marks  of  anatomical  degeneration.  His 
genitals  were  normally  developed.  In  confinement  he  was 
lazy,  irascible  and  quite  intractable.  Out  of  sheer  stub- 
bornness and  because  he  thought  he  had  been  slighted,  he 
refused  on  one  occasion  all  food  for  a  period  of  seven 
days.  On  another  occasion  he  flew  into  a  frightful  rage 
when  permission  to  go  to  church  was  refused  him.  He 
spoke  cynically  of  his  crimes,  showed  no  remorse,  insisted 
that  they  were  the  outcome  of  madness  and  insanity, 
played  the  insane,  hoping  thus  to  be  sent  to  an  insane  asy- 
lum whence  escape  is  easier.  The  experts  could  establish 
no  symptoms  of  mental  disturbance. 

Eesume  of  the  experts: — ^^V.  is  neither  an  epileptic 
nor  subject  to  an  impulsive  disease.    He  is  an  immoral, 


94 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


passionate  marij  who  once  temporarily  suffered  from  a 
depressing  persecution-mania,  coupled  with  an  impulse  to 
suicide.  Of  this  he  was  cured,  and  thereafter  became  re- 
sponsible for  his  actions.  His  crimes  are  those  of  an 
antisocial,  sadistic,  bloodthirsty  being,  who  considers  him- 
self privileged  to  commit  these  atrocities  because  he  was 
once  upon  a  time  treated  in  an  asylum  for  insanity,  and 
thereby  escaped  well  merited  punishment.  He  is  a  com- 
mon criminal  and  there  are  no  ameliorating  circumstances 
to  be  found  in  his  favour." — V.  was  sentenced  to  death. 
(Archives  d'  anthropologic  criminelle,  xiii.,  No.  78.) 

In  such  cases  it  may  even  happen  that  appetite  for  the 
flesh  of  the  murdered  victim  arises,  and  in  consequence  of 
this  perverse  colouring  of  the  idea,  parts  of  the  body  may 
be  eaten. 

Case  19.  Leger,  vine-dresser,  aged  twenty-four. 
From  youth  moody,  silent,  shy  of  people.  He  started  out 
in  search  of  a  situation.  Wandering  about  eight  days  in 
the  forest  he  there  caught  a  girl  twelve  years  old,  violated 
her,  mutilated  her  genitals,  tore  out  her  heart,  ate  of  it, 
drank  the  blood,  and  buried  the  remains.  Arrested,  at 
first  he  lied,  but  finally  confessed  his  crime  with  cynical 
cold-bloodedness.  He  listened  to  his  sentence  of  death 
with  indifference,  and  was  executed.  At  the  post-mortem 
examination  Esquirol  found  morbid  adhesions  between  the 
cerebral  membranes  and  the  brain  (Georgetj,  ^^Darstellung 
der  Prozesse  Leger,  Feldtmann/'  etc.,  Darmstadt,  1827). 

Case  20.  Tirsch,  hospital  beneficiary  of  Prag,  aged 
fifty-five,  always  silent,  peculiar,  coarse,  very  irritable^ 
grumbling,  revengeful,  was  sentenced  to  twenty  years' 
imprisonment  for  violating  a  girl  ten  years  old.  He  had 
attracted  attention  on  account  of  outbursts  of  anger  from 
insignificant  causes,  and  also  on  account  of  tcedium  vitce. 
In  1864,  on  accoimt  of  the  refusal  of  an  offer  of  marriage 
which  he  made  to  a  widow,  he  developed  a  hatred  tow^ard 
women,  and  on  the  8th  of  July  he  went  about  with  the 


SEXUAL  INCLIIS-ATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  95 

intention  of  killing  one  of  this  hated  sex.  Vetulam  occur- 
rentem  in  silvam  allexit,  coitunij  poposcit,  renitentem  pros- 
travitj  jugulum  feminw  compressit  ''furore  captus'\  Cad- 
aver virga  betulce  desecta  verberare  voluit  nequetamen  id 
perfecit,  quia  conscientia  sua  haec  fieri  vetuit,  cuUello 
mammas  et  genitalia  desecta  domi  cocta  proximis  diehus 
cum  globis  comedit.  On  the  12th  of  September,  when  he 
was  arrested;  the  remains  of  this  meal  were  found.  He 
gave  as  the  motive  of  this  act  '^inner  impulse.''  He  him- 
self wished  to  be  executed,  because  he  had  always  been  an 
outcast.  In  confinement  he  showed  great  emotional  irrita- 
bility and  occasional  outbursts  of  fury,  preceded  by  refusal 
of  food,  which  made  isolation,  lasting  several  days,  neces- 
sary. It  was  authoritatively  established  that  the  most  of 
his  earlier  excesses  were  coincident  with  outbreaks  of  ex- 
citement and  fury  {Maschha,  ^Trager  Vierteljahrsschrift,'' 
1866,  i.,  p.  79.  ''Gauster  bei  Maschka,  Handb.  der 
gerichtl.  Medicin,''  iv.,  p.  489). 

In  other  cases  of  lust-murder,  for  physical  and  mental 
reasons  (vide  supra),  violation  is  omitted,  and  the  sadistic 
crime  alone  becomes  the  equivalent  of  coitus.  The  prO' 
totype  of  such  cases  is  the  following  one  of  Verzeni.  The 
life  of  his  victim  hung  on  the  rapid  or  retarded  occurrence 
of  ejaculation.  Since  this  remarkable  case  presents  all 
the  peculiarities  which  modern  science  knows  concerning 
the  relation  of  lust  to  lust-murder  with  anthropophagy, 
and  especially  since  it  was  carefully  studied,  it  receives 
detailed  description  here: — 

Case  21.  Vincenz  Verzeni,  born  in  1849 ;  since  Jan- 
uary 11th,  1872,  in  prison;  was  accused  (1)  of  an  attempt 
to  strangle  his  nurse  Marianne,  four  years  ago,  while  she 
lay  sick  in  bed;  (2)  of  a  similar  attempt  on  a  married 
woman,  Arsuffi,  aged  twenty-seven;  (3)  of  an  attempt  to 
strangle  a  married  woman,  Gala,  by  grasping  her  throat 
while  kneeling  on  her  abdomen;  (4)  on  suspicion  of  the 
following  murders : — 


96 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


In  December  a  fourteen-year-old  girl,  Johanna  Motta, 
set  out  for  a  neighbouring  village  between  seven  and  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  As  she  did  not  return,  her  master 
set  out  to  find  her,  and  discovered  her  body  near  the  village, 
lying  by  a  path  in  the  fields.  The  corpse  was  frightfully 
mutilated  with  numerous  wounds.  The  intestines  and 
genitals  had  been  torn  from  the  open  body,  and  were  found 
near  by.  The  nakedness  of  the  body  and  erosions  on  the 
thighs  made  it  seem  probable  that  there  had  been  an 
attempt  at  rape;  the  mouth,  filled  with  earth,  pointed  to 
suffocation.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  body,  under  a 
pile  of  straw,  were  found  a  portion  of  flesh  torn  from  the 
right  calf,  and  pieces  of  clothing.  The  perpetrator  of 
the  deed  remained  undiscovered. 

On  28th  August,  1871,  a  married  woman,  Frigeni,  aged 
twenty-eight,  set  out  into  the  fields  early  in  the  morning. 
As  she  did  not  return  by  eight  o'clock,  her  husband  started 
out  to  fetch  her.  He  found  her  a  corpse,  lying  naked  in 
the  field,  with  the  mark  of  a  thong  around  her  neck,  with 
which  she  had  been  strangled,  and  with  numerous  wounds. 
The  abdomen  had  been  ripped  open,  and  the  intestines 
were  hanging  out. 

On  August  29th,  at  noon,  as  Maria  Previtali,  aged 
nineteen,  went  through  a  field,  she  was  followed  by  her 
cousin,  Verzeni.  He  dragged  her  into  a  field  of  grain, 
threw  her  to  the  ground  and  began  to  choke  her.  As  he  let 
go  of  her  for  a  moment  to  ascertain  whether  any  one  was 
near,  the  girl  got  up  and,  by  her  supplicating  entreaty,  in- 
duced Verzeni  to  let  her  go,  after  he  had  pressed  her  hands 
together  for  some  time. 

Verzeni  was  brought  before  a  court.  He  was  then 
twenty-two  years  old.  Cranium  of  more  than  average  size, 
but  asymmetrical.  The  right  frontal  bone  narrower  and 
lower  than  the  left,  the  right  frontal  prominence  being  less 
developed,  and  the  right  ear  smaller  than  the  left  (by  1 
centimetre  in  length  and  3  centimetres  in  breadth)  ;  both 
ears  defective  in  the  inferior  half  of  the  helix;  the  right 
temporal  artery  somewhat  atheromatous.  Bull-necked; 


SEXUAL  INCLINATIOISr  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX«  97 

enormous  development  of  the  zygomce  and  inferior  maxilla; 
penis  greatly  developed,  froenum  wanting ;  slight  divergent 
alternating  strabismus  (insufficiency  of  the  internal  rectus 
muscle,  and  myopia).  Lombroso  concluded  from  these 
signs  of  degeneration,  that  there  was  a  congenital  arrest 
of  development  of  the  right  frontal  bone.  As  seemed 
orobable,  Verzeni  had  a  bad  ancestry — two  uncles  were 
cretins;  a  third,  microcephalic,  beardless,  one  testicle 
wanting,  the  other  atrophic.  The  father  showed  traces 
of  pellagrous  degeneration,  and  had  an  attack  of  hypo- 
chondria  pellagrosa.  A  cousin  suffered  from  cerebral 
hypersemia ;  another  was  a  confirmed  thief. 

Verzeni's  family  was  bigoted  and  low-minded.  He  him- 
self had  ordinary  intelligence ;  knew  how  to  defend  himself 
well ;  sought  to  prove  an  alibi  and  cast  suspicion  on  others. 
There  was  nothing  in  his  past  that  pointed  to  mental  dis- 
ease, but  his  character  was  peculiar.  He  was  silent  and 
inclined  to  be  solitary.  In  prison  he  was  cynical.  He 
masturbated,  and  made  every  effort  to  gain  sight  of  women. 

Verzeni  finally  confessed  his  deeds  and  their  motive. 
The  commission  of  them  gave  him  an  indescribably 
pleasant  (lustful)  feeling,  which  was  accompanied  by  erec- 
tion and  ejaculation.  As  soon  as  he  had  grasped  his  vic- 
tim by  the  neck,  sexual  sensations  were  experienced.  It 
was  entirely  the  same  to  him,  with  reference  to  these  sen- 
sations, whether  the  women  were  old,  young,  ugly,  or 
beautiful.  Usually,  simply  choking  them  had  satisfied 
him,  and  he  then  had  allowed  his  victims  to  live;  in  the 
two  cases  mentioned,  the  sexual  satisfaction  was  delayed, 
and  he  had  continued  to  choke  them  until  they  died.  The 
gratification  experienced  in  this  garrotting  was  greater 
than  in  masturbation.  The  abrasions  of  the  skin  on  Motta's 
thighs  were  produced  by  his  teeth,  whilst  sucking  her 
blood  in  most  intense  lustful  pleasure.  He  had  torn  out 
a  piece  of  flesh  from  her  calf  and  taken  it  with  him  to 
roast  at  home ;  but  on  the  way  he  hid  it  under  the  straw- 
stack,  for  fear  his  mother  might  suspect  him.  He  also 
carried  pieces  of  the  clothing  and  intestines  some  distance,, 


98  PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 

because  it  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  smell  and  touch 
them.  The  strength  which  he  possessed  in  these  moments 
of  intense  lustful  pleasure  was  enormous.  He  had  never 
been  a  fool;  while  committing  his  deeds  he  saw  nothing 
around  him  (apparently  as  a  result  of  intense  sexual  ex- 
citement, annihilation  of  perception — instinctive  action). 
After  such  acts  he  was  always  very  happy,  enjoying  a 
feeling  of  great  satisfaction.  He  had  never  had  pangs  of 
conscience.  It  had  never  occurred  to  him  to  touch  the 
genitals  of  the  martyred  women,  or  to  violate  his  victims. 
It  had  satisfied  him  to  throttle  them  and  suck  their  blood. 
These  statements  of  this  modern  vampire  seem  to  rest  on 
truth.  IsTormal  sexual  impulses  seem  to  have  remained 
foreign  to  him.  Two  sweethearts  that  he  had,  he  was 
satisfied  to  look  at;  it  was  very  strange  to  him  that  he 
had  no  inclination  to  strangle  them  or  press  their  hands, 
but  he  had  not  had  the  same  pleasure  with  them  as  with 
his  victims.  There  was  no  trace  of  moral  sense,  remorse 
and  the  like. 

Verzeni  said  himself  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if 
he  were  to  be  kept  in  prison,  because  with  freedom  he 
could  not  resist  his  impulses.  Verzeni  was  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  life  {Lombroso,  ^^Verzeni  e  Agnoletti,'^ 
Rome,  1873).  The  confessions  which  Verzeni  made  after 
his  sentence  are  interesting: — 

^^I  had  an  unspeakable  delight  in  strangling  women,  ex- 
periencing during  the  act  erections  and  real  sexual  pleas- 
ure. It  was  even  a  pleasure  only  to  smell  female  clothing. 
The  feeling  of  pleasure  while  strangling  them  was  much 
greater  than  that  which  I  experienced  while  masturbating. 
I  took  great  delight  in  drinking  Motta's  blood.  It  also 
gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  pull  the  hair-pins  out  of 
the  hair  of  my  victims. 

"I  took  the  clothing  and  intestines,  because  of  the 
pleasure  it  gave  me  to  smell  and  touch  them.  At  last  my 
mother  came  to  suspect  me,  because  she  noticed  spots  of 
semen  on  my  shirt  after  each  murder  or  attempt  at  one. 
I  am  not  crazy,  but  in  the  moment  of  strangling  my  victims 


SEXUAL  INCLINATIOlSr  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  99 

I  saw  nothing  else.  After  the  commission  of  the  deeds  I 
was  satisfied  and  felt  well.  It  never  occurred  to  me  to 
touch  or  look  at  the  genitals  or  such  things.  It  satisfied 
me  to  seize  the  women  by  the  neck  and  suck  their  blood. 
To  this  very  day  I  am  ignorant  of  how  a  woman  is  formed. 
During  the  strangling  and  after  it,  I  pressed  myself  on 
the  entire  body  without  thinking  of  one  part  more  than 
another.'' 

Verzeni  arrived  at  his  perverse  acts  quite  indepen- 
dently, after  having  noticed,  when  he  was  twelve  years 
old,  that  he  experienced  a  peculiar  feeling  of  pleasure 
while  wringing  the  necks  of  chickens.  After  this  he  had 
often  killed  great  numbers  of  them  and  then  said  that  a 
weasel  had  been  in  the  hen-coop  {Lomhroso,  ''GoUdammers 
Archiv,''Bd.  XXX.,  p.  13). 

Lomhroso  mentions  an  analogous  case  {^'Goltdammers 
Archiv'')  which  occurred  in  Vittoria  (Spain)  : — 

Case  22,  A  certain  Gruyo,  aged  forty-one,  with  a 
blameless  past  life,  having  been  three  times  married, 
strangled  six  women  in  the  course  of  ten  years.  They 
were  almost  all  public  prostitutes  and  quite  old.  After 
the  strangling  he  tore  out  their  intestines  and  kidneys  per 
vaginam.  Some  of  his  victims  he  violated  before  killing, 
others,  on  account  of  the  occurrence  of  impotence,  he  did 
not.  He  set  about  his  horrible  deeds  with  such  care  that 
he  remained  undetected  for  ten  years. 

(b)  Mutilation  of  Corpses. 

Following  on  the  preceding  horrible  group  of  perver- 
sions, come  naturally  the  necrophiles;  in  these  cases,  just 
as  with  lustful  murderers  and  analogous  cases,  an  idea 
which  in  itself  awakens  a  feeling  of  horror,  and  before 
which  a  sane  person  would  shudder,  is  accompanied  by 
lustful  feelings,  and  thus  leads  to  the  impulse  to  indulge 
in  acts  of  necrophilia. 


100 


PSYCHOPATHIA  S^X  (TALIS. 


The  cases  of  mutilation  of  bodies  mentioned  in  litera- 
ture seem  to  be  of  a  pathological  character ;  but,  with  the 
exception  of  that  of  Sergeant  Bertrand  (v,  infra)  y  they 
are  far  from  being  described  and  observed  with  accuracy. 
In  certain  cases  there  may  be  nothing  more  than  the 
possibility  that  unbridled  desire  sees  in  the  idea  of  death 
no  obstacle  to  its  satisfaction.  The  seventh  case  mentioned 
by  MoreaUj,  perhaps,  belongs  here. 

A  man,  aged  twenty-three,  attempted  to  rape  a  woman, 
aged  fifty-three.  Struggling,  he  killed  her,  and  then  vio- 
lated her,  threw  her  in  the  water,  and  fished  her  out  again 
for  renewed  violation.  The  murderer  w^as  executed.  The 
meninges  of  the  anterior  lobes  were  thickened  and  ad- 
herent to  the  cortex, 

French  writers  have  recorded  numerous  examples  of 
necrophilia.^  Two  cases  concerned  monks  performing 
the  watch  for  the  dead.  In  a  third  case  the  subject  w^as 
an  idiot,  who  also  suffered  from  periodical  mania,  and 
after  commission  of  rape  was  sent  to  an  insane  asylum, 
where  he  mutilated  female  bodies  in  the  mortuary. 

In  other  cases,  however,  there  is  undoubtedly  direct 
preference  for  a  corpse  to  the  living  woman.  When  no 
other  act  of  cruelty — cutting  into  pieces,  etc. — is  practised 
on  the  cadaver,  it  is  probable  that  the  lifeless  condition 
itself  forms  the  stimulus  for  the  perverse  individual.  It 
is  possible  that  the  corpse — a  human  form  absolutely 
without  will — satisfies  an  abnormal  desire,  in  that  the 
object  of  desire  is  seen  to  be  capable  of  absolute  subjuga- 
tion, without  possibility  of  resi^ance. 

Brierre  de  Boismont  (^^Gazette  medicale,''  July  21st, 
1859)  relates  the  history  of  a  corpse-violator  who,  after 
bribing  the  watchman,  had  gained  entrance  to  the  corpse 
of  a  girl  of  sixteen  belonging  to  a  family  of  high  social 
position.  At  night  a  noise  was  heard  in  the  death- 
chamber,  as  if  a  piece  of  furniture  had  fallen  over.  The 

^  Michea,  Union  m^d.  1849, — Brierre,  Gaz.  m^d.  1849,  July  21; 
Moreau  (op.  cit. )  p.  250, — Epaulard,  "  Vampyrisme  (n6crophilie, 
necrosadism,  n^crophagie) ,  Lyon,  1901. 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX,  lOl 

mother  of  the  dead  girl  eflfected  an  entrance  and  saw  a 
man  dressed  in  his  night-shirt  springing  from  the  bed 
where  the  body  lay.  It  was  at  first  thought  that  the  man 
was  a  thief,  bnt  the  real  explanation  was  soon  discovered. 
It  afterwards  transpired  that  the  culprit,  a  man  of  good 
family,  had  often  violated  the  corpses  of  young  women. 
He  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life. 

The  story  of  a  prelate,  reported  by  Taxil^  (^^La  prosti- 
tution contemporaine,''  p.  171),  is  of  great  interest  as  an 
example  of  necrophilia.  From  time  to  time  he  would 
visit  a  certain  brothel  in  Paris  and  order  a  prostitute, 
dressed  in  white  like  a  corpse,  to  be  laid  out  on  a  bier. 
At  the  appointed  hour  he  would  appear  in  the  room, 
which,  in  the  meantime  had  been  elaborately  prepared  as 
a  room  of  mourning;  then  he  would  act  as  if  reading  a 
mass  for  the  soul,  and  finally  throw  himself  upon  the 
girl,  who,  during  the  whole  time,  was  compelled  to  play 
the  role  of  a  corpse.^ 

The  cases  in  which  the  perpetrator  injures  and  cuts 
up  the  corpse  are  clearer.  Such  cases  come  next  to  those 
of  lust-murder,  in  so  far  as  cruelty,  or  at  least  an  impulse 
to  attack  the  female  body,  is  connected  with  lust.  It  is 
possible  that  a  remnant  of  moral  sense  deters  from  the 
cruel  act  on  a  living  woman,  and  possibly  the  fancy  passes 
beyond  lust-murder  and  rests  on  its  result,  the  corpse. 
Here  also  it  is  possible  that  the  idea  of  defenselessness  of 
the  body  plays  a  role. 

Case  23.    Sergeant  Bertrand,  a  man  of  delicate  phy- 

*  A  similar  case  is  related  by  ^eri  ( "  Archivio  delle  psicopatie 
sessuali/'*  1896,  p.  109).  A  man,  fifty  years  of  age,  used  in  a  Lupanar 
only  girls  who  clad  in  white^  lay  motionless  feigning  death.  He 
violated  the  body  of  his  own  sister,  immissione  mentulce  in  os  mortucB 
usque  ad  ejaculationem !  This  monster  had  also  fits  of  fetichism  for 
crines  pubis  puellarum,  and  the  trimmings  of  their  fingernails; 
eating  them  caused  strong  sexual  emotions. 

^  Simon  ("Crimes  et  d^lits,"  p.  209)  mentions  an  experience  of 
Lacassagne's,  to  whom  a  respectable  man  said  that  he  was  never 
intensely  excited  sexually  except  when  a  spectator  at  a  funeral. 


102 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sical  constitution  and  of  peculiar  character;  from  child- 
hood silent  and  inclined  to  solitude. 

The  details  of  the  health  of  his  family  were  not  satis- 
factorily known;  but  the  occurrence  of  mental  diseases  in 
his  ancestors  was  ascertained.  It  was  said  that  while  he 
was  a  child  he  was  affected  with  destructive  impulses, 
which  he  himself  could  not  explain.  He  would  break  what- 
ever was  at  hand.  In  early  childhood,  without  teaching, 
he  learned  to  masturbate.  At  nine  he  began  to  feel  inclina- 
tions towards  persons  of  the  opposite  sex.  At  thirteen 
the  impulse  to  sexual  intercourse  became  powerfully 
awakened  in  him.  He  now  masturbated  excessively.  When 
he  did  this,  his  fancy  always  created  a  room  filled  with 
women.  He  would  imagine  that  he  carried  out  the  sexual 
act  with  them  and  then  killed  them.  Immediately  there- 
after he  would  think  of  them  as  corpses,  and  of  how  he  de- 
filed them.  Occasionally  in  such  situations  the  thought  of 
carrying  out  a  similar  act  with  male  corpses  would  come 
Up,  but  it  was  always  attended  with  a  feeling  of  disgust. 

In  time  he  felt  the  impulse  to  carry  out  such  acts  with 
actual  corpses.  For  want  of  human  bodies,  he  obtained 
those  of  animals.  He  would  cut  open  the  abdomen,  tear 
out  the  entrails,  and  masturbate  during  the  act.  He  de- 
clared that  in  this  way  he  experienced  inexpressible 
pleasure.  In  1846  these  bodies  no  longer  satisfied  him.  He 
now  killed  dogs,  and  proceeded  with  them  as  before. 
Toward  the  end  of  1846  he  first  felt  the  desire  to  make 
use  of  human  bodies. 

At  first  he  had  a  horror  of  it.  In  1847,  being  by  ac- 
cident in  a  graveyard,  he  ran  across  the  grave  of  a  newly 
buried  corpse.  Then  this  impulse,  with  headache  and  pal- 
pitation of  the  heart,  became  so  powerful  that,  although 
there  were  people  near  by,  and  he  was  in  danger  of  de- 
tection, he  dug  up  the  body.  In  the  absence  of  a  con- 
venient instrument  for  cutting  it  up,  he  satisfied  himself 
by  hacking  it  with  a  shovel. 

In  1847  and  1848,  during  two  weeks,  as  reported,  the 
impulse,  accompanied  by  violent  headache,  to  commit  bru- 


SEXUAL  IISrCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  10!^? 

tali  ties  on  corpses  actuated  him.  Under  the  greatest  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  he  satisfied  this  impulse  some  fifteen 
times.  He  dug  up  the  bodies  with  his  hands,  in  nowise 
sensible  in  his  excitement  to  the  injuries  he  thus  inflicted 
on  himself.  When  he  had  obtained  the  body,  he  cut  it  up 
with  a  sword  or  pocket-knife,  tore  out  the  entrails,  and 
then  masturbated.  The  sex  of  the  bodies  is  said  to  have 
been  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him,  though  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  this  modern  vampire  had  dug  up  more  female 
than  male  corpses. 

During  these  acts  he  declared  himself  to  have  been  in 
an  indescribable  state  of  sexual  excitement.  After  having 
cut  them  up,  he  reinterred  the  bodies. 

In  July,  1848,  he  accidentally  came  across  the  body  of 
a  girl  of  sixteen.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  he  experienced 
a  desire  to  carry  out  coitus  on  a  cadaver. 

^^I  covered  it  with  kisses  and  pressed  it  wildly  to  my 
heart.  All  that  one  could  enjoy  with  a  living  woman  is 
nothing  in  comparison  with  the  pleasure  I  experienced. 
After  I  had  enjoyed  it  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  I 
cut  the  body  up,  as  usual,  and  tore  out  the  entrails.  Then 
I  buried  the  cadaver  again.''  Only  after  this,  as  B.  de- 
clared, had  he  felt  the  impulse  to  use  the  bodies  sexuallj^ 
before  cutting  them  up,  and  thereafter  he  had  done  it  in 
three  instances.  The  actual  motive  for  exhuming  the 
bodies,  however,  was  then,  as  before,  to  cut  them  up ;  and 
the  enjoyment  in  so  doing  was  greater  than  in  using  the 
bodies  sexually.  The  latter  act  had  always  been  nothing 
more  than  an  episode  of  the  principal  one,  and  had  never 
quieted  his  desires;  for  which  reason  he  had  later  on 
always  mutilated  the  body. 

The  medico-legal  examiners  gave  an  opinion  of  ^^mono- 
mania". Court-martial  sentence  to  one  year's  imprison- 
ment. {MicJiea,  ^^TJnion  med.,"  1849;  Lunier,  ^^Annal. 
med.-psycho.,"  1849,  p.  153;  Tardieu,  "Attentats  aux 
moeurs,"  1878,  p.  114;  Legrand,  "La  folie  devant  les  tri- 
bun.,"  p.  524.) 


104 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


Case  24,  Ardisson,  born,  1872,  belonged  to  a  family 
of  criminals  and  insane.  At  school  he  learned  readily ;  he 
was  not  addicted  to  drink,  had  no  epileptic  antecedents, 
never  had  an  illness,  but  was  rather  weakminded.  The 
man  who  adopted  him  and  with  whom  he  lived,  was  a 
moral  outcast.  When  A.  came  of  puberty  he  practised 
masturbation,  devorare  solehat  sperma  proprium  because 
^^it  would  be  a  pity  to  lose  it.'^  He  ran  after  the  girls,  but 
could  not  understand  why  they  shunned  him.  Loco  quo 
mulieres  urinaverant^  lotium  hibere  solehat.  He  did  not 
think  that  there  was  anything  wrong  about  this.  He  was 
looked  upon  in  the  village  as  a  venal  felon.  With  his 
adopter  he  shared  the  favours  of  the  beggar  women  that 
stayed  over  night  at  their  house.  He  was  fond  of  fornica- 
tion, was  a  mamma  fetichist  and  loved  mammas  sugere. 
Later  on  he  fell  to  necrophily.  He  exhumed  cadavers  of 
females  ranging  from  three  to  sixty  years  of  age,  sucked 
their  breasts,  practised  cunnilungus  on  them,  but  rarely 
coitus  or  mutilation.  Once  he  carried  away  the  head  of 
a  w^oman,  at  another  time  the  whole  corpse  of  a  little  girl 
three  and  one-half  years  old.  After  his  ghoulish  deeds  he 
would  re-arrange  the  grave  properly.  He  lived  isolated  by 
himself,  was  at  times  very  morose,  never  showed  signs  of 
heart.  As  a  rule,  however,  he  was  not  of  an  evil  disposi'^ 
tion  even  when  in  prison.  Several  times  he  worked  as  a 
stonemason.  Remorse  and  shame  over  his  misdeeds  were 
unknown  to  him.  In  1892  he  had  for  a  while  acted  as  a 
gravedigger.  He  deserted  from  the  army  and  then  took  to 
begging  from  house  to  house.  He  loved  to  eat  rats  and 
cats.  When  arrested  and  returned  to  the  regiment  he  de- 
serted again.  He  was  not  punished  because  he  was  not 
held  responsible.  Dismissed  from  the  army  he  again  be- 
came a  gravedigger.  When  a  girl  of  seventeen  who  had 
very  prominent  breasts  was  buried  his  old  passion  awoke 
again.  He  unearthed  the  cadaver  and  profaned  it  in  his 
usual  manner.  This  happened  from  now  on  very  fre- 
quently. The  head  of  one  woman  which  he  took  home  with 
him,  he  covered  with  kisses  and  called  it  his  bride.   He  was 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  105 

caught  after  he  had  taken  home  the  body  of  a  child  three 
and  one-half  years  of  age  which  he  secreted  in  the  straw. 
On  this  he  gratified  his  sexual  desires  even  whilst  the 
putrid  body  was  falling  to  pieces.  The  stench  filling  the 
house  betrayed  him.  Laughingly  he  admitted  everything. 
— A.  was  small  of  stature,  and  prognathous  and  feeble; 
skull  symmetrical;  general  tremor;  genitals  normal,  with- 
out sexual  emotion ;  intelligence  very  limited ;  devoid  of  all 
moral  sense. — A.  was  pleased  with  prison  life.  (Epaulard 
op.  cit.) 

(c)  Injury  to  Women  (Stabbing j,  Flagellation^  etc.). 

Following  lust-murder  and  violation  of  corpses,  come 
cases  closely  allied  to  the  former,  in  which  injury  of  the 
victim  of  lust  and  sight  of  the  victim's  blood  are  a  delight 
and  pleasure.  The  notorious  Marquis  de  Sade,^  after 
whom  this  combination  of  lust  and  cruelty  has  been  named, 
was  such  a  monster.  Coitus  only  excited  him  when  he 
could  prick  the  object  of  his  desire  until  the  blood  came. 

^  Taxil  {op.  cit. )  gives  more  detailed  accounts  of  this  sexual 
monster,  which  must  have  been  a  case  of  habitual  satyriasis,  accom- 
panied by  perverse  sexual  instinct.  Sade  was  so  cynical  that  he 
actually  sought  to  idealise  his  cruel  lasciviousness  and  to  be  the 
apostle  of  a  theory  based  upon  it.  He  became  so  bad  (among  other 
things  he  made  an  invited  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  erotic 
by  causing  to  be  served  to  them  chocolate  bonbons  which  contained 
cantharides)  that  he  was  committed  to  the  insane  asylum  at  Charen- 
ton.  During  the  revolution  of  1790  he  escaped.  Then  he  wrote 
obscene  novels  filled  with  lust^  cruelty  and  the  most  lascivious 
scenes.  When  Bonaparte  became  Consul,  Sade  made  him  a  present 
of  his  novels,  magnificently  bound.  The  Consul  had  the  works 
destroyed  and  the  author  committed  to  Charenton  again,  where  he 
died  at  the  age  of  sixty-four.  Sade  was  inexhaustible  in  his  lasciv- 
ious publications,  which  were  markedly  intended  for  advertisement. 
Fortunately  it  is  difficult  to-day  to  obtain  copies.  Extant  are: 
"  Histoire  de  Justine/'  4  vols.;  "  Histoire  de  Juliette,"  6  vols.; 
Philosophie  dans  le  boudoir,"  London,  1805.  Interesting  is  Sade's 
biography  by  J.  Janin^  1835. 

A  scientific  and  very  thorough  study  of  Sadism  has  recently 
been  made  by  Dr.  Marciat,  "  Bibliotheque  de  criminologie "  xix., 
1899  (Paris,  Masson).  It  gives  an  analysis  and  table  of  contents 
of  Sade's  writings. — cf.  also  Diihren,  "  The  Marquis  de  fSade  "  1900. 


106 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


His  greatest  pleasure  was  to  injure  naked  prostitutes  and 
then  dress  their  wounds. 

The  case  of  a  captain  belongs  here,  mentioned  by  Bri- 
erre  de  Boismont,  who  always  compelled  the  object  of  his 
affection  to  place  leeches  ad  pudenda  before  coitus,  which 
was  very  frequent.  Finally  this  woman  became  very 
anaemic  and,  as  a  result  of  this,  insanCc 

The  following  case,  from  my  own  practice,  very  clearly 
shows  the  connection  between  lust  and  cruelty,  with  desire 
to  shed  and  see  blood : — 

Case  25.  Mr.  X.,  aged  twenty-five;  father  syphi- 
litic, died  of  paretic  dementia ;  mother  hysterical  and  neur- 
asthenic. He  was  a  weak  individual,  constitutionally  neur- 
opathic, and  presented  several  anatomical  signs  of  degen- 
eration. 

When  a  child,  hypochondria  and  imperative  concep- 
tions ;  later,  constant  alternation  of  exaltation  and  depres- 
sion. While  yet  a  child  of  ten  the  patient  felt  a  peculiar 
lustful  desire  to  see  blood  flow  from  his  fingers.  There- 
after he  often  cut  or  pricked  himself  in  the  fingers,  and 
took  great  delight  in  it.  Very  early,  erections  were  added 
to  this,  and  also  if  he  saw  the  blood  of  others ;  for  example, 
when  he  once  saw  the  servant-girl  cut  her  finger  it  gave 
him  an  intense  lustful  feeling.  From  this  time  his  vita 
sexualis  became  more  and  more  powerful.  Without  any 
teaching  he  began  to  masturbate,  and  always  during  the 
act  there  were  memory-pictures  of  bleeding  women.  It 
now  no  longer  sufiiced  him  to  see  his  own  blood  flow;  he 
longed  to  see  the  blood  of  young  females,  especially  those 
that  were  attractive  to  him.  He  could  scarcely  overcome 
the  impulse  to  violate  two  cousins  and  a  certain  servant. 

Any  young  woman,  although  not  attractive,  induced 
this  impulse  when  she  excited  him  by  some  peculiarity  of 
dress  or  adornment,  especially  coral  jewellery.  At  first  he 
succeeded  in  overcoming  these  desires ;  but  in  his  imagina- 
tion thoughts  of  blood  were  ever  present,  inducing  lustful 


SEXUAL  INCLIlSrATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  107 

excitement.  An  inner  relation  existed  between  thoughts 
and  feelings.  Often  there  were  other  cruel  fancies.  He 
imagined  himself  in  the  role  of  a  tyrant  who  had  the  people 
shot  in  crowds  with  grape-shot.  He  would  imagine  a  scene 
as  it  would  be,  if  enemies  were  to  take  a  city  and  mutilate, 
torture,  kill  and  rape  the  young  women. 

When  in  his  normal  state  this  patient,  who  had  a  mild 
disposition  and  was  not  morally  defective,  was  ashamed 
of  and  horrified  by  such  cruel,  lustful  fancies,  which  be- 
came at  once  latent,  when  his  sexual  excitement  was  satis- 
fied by  masturbation. 

After  a  few  years  the  patient  became  neurasthenic. 
Then  simple  imaginary  representations  of  blood  and  scenes 
of  blood  sufiiced  to  induce  ejaculation.  In  order  to  free 
himself  from  his  vice  and  his  cruel  imagination,  he  began 
to  indulge  in  sexual  intercourse  with  females.  Coitus  was 
possible,  but  only  when  the  patient  called  up  the  idea 
that  the  girl's  fingers  were  bleeding.  Without  the  assist- 
ance of  this  idea  no  erection  was  possible.  The  cruel 
thought  of  cutting  was  limited  to  the  woman's  hand.  At 
the  time  of  greatest  sexual  excitement,  simply  the  sight  of 
the  hand  of  an  attractive  woman  was  sufficient  to  induce 
most  violent  erections.  Frightened  by  the  popular  stories 
about  the  injurious  results  of  onanism,  he  abstained  and 
fell  into  a  condition  of  severe  general  neurasthenia,  with 
hypochondriacal  dysthymia  and  tcedium  vitce.  Careful 
and  watchful  medical  treatment  cured  the  patient  after  a 
few  months.  He  remained  mentally  well  for  three  years ; 
but  became  again  very  sensual,  though  very  seldom  he  was 
troubled  by  his  earlier  ideas  of  flowing  blood.  He  gave  up 
masturbation  altogether,  and  found  satisfaction  in  natural 
sexual  indulgence,  remained  virile,  and  it  was  no  longer 
necessary  for  him  to  call  up  ideas  of  blood. 

The  following  case,  reported  by  Tarnowsky  {op.  cit,, 
p.  61),  shows  that  such  lustful,  cruel  impulses  may  be 
simply  episodical,  and  occur  in  certain  exceptional  states 
of  mind  in  neurotic  individuals : — 


108 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  26.  Z.,  physician;  neuropathic  constitution, 
reacting  badly  to  alcohol.  Under  ordinary  circumstances 
capable  of  normal  coitus^  but  as  soon  as  he  had  indulged 
in  wine  he  found  that  his  increased  libido  was  no  longer 
satisfied  by  simple  coitus.  In  this  condition  he  was  com- 
pelled to  prick  the  nates  puellce,  or  to  make  stabs  with  the 
lancet,  to  see  blood,  and  feel  the  entrance  of  the  blade  into 
the  living  hodj,  in  order  to  have  ejaculation  and  experi- 
ence complete  satiety  of  his  lust. 

The  majority  of  those  afEicted  with  this  form  of  per- 
version seem  insensible  to  the  normal  stimulus  of  woman. 
In  the  first  case  (25),  the  assistance  of  the  idea  of  blood 
w^as  necessary  to  obtain  erection.  The  following  is  that 
of  a  man  who,  by  masturbation,  etc.,  in  early  youth,  had 
diminished  his  power  of  erection  so  that  the  sadistic  act 
took  the  place  of  coitus : — 

Case  27.  The  girl-stabher  of  Bozen  (reported  by 
Demme,  ^^Buch  der  Verbrechen,''  Bd.  ii.,  p.  341).  In 
1829,  H.,  aged  thirty,  soldier,  became  the  subject  of  legal 
investigation.  At  different  times,  and  in  different  places, 
he  had  wounded  girls  with  pocket-knives  or  penknives,  by 
stabbing  them  in  the  abdomen,  preferably  in  the  genitals. 
He  gave  as  a  motive  for  these  acts  heightened  sexual  im- 
pulse, increasing  to  the  intensity  of  fury,  which  found 
satisfaction  only  in  the  thought  and  act  of  stabbing  persons 
of  the  female  sex.  This  impulse  would  pursue  him  for 
days  at  a  time.  He  would  then  pass  into  a  confused  mental 
state,  which  would  clear  away  only  when  the  impulse  had 
been  satisfied  by  the  deed.  In  the  act  of  stabbing  he  ex- 
perienced the  same  satisfaction  as  that  produced  by  com- 
pleted coitus.  This  was  increased  by  the  sight  of  blood 
dripping  from  the  knife.  In  his  tenth  year  the  sexual  in- 
stinct became  powerfully  manifest.  At  first  he  yielded  to 
masturbation,  and  felt  physically  and  mentally  weakened 
by  it.  Before  he  became  a  girl-stabber,  he  had  satisfied  his 
sexual  lust  in  violation  of  immature  girls,  by  causing  them 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  109 

to  practise  masturbation  on  him,  and  by  sodomy.  Gradu- 
ally the  thought  came  to  him  how  pleasurable  it  would  be 
to  stab  a  young  and  pretty  girl  in  the  genitals,  and  take 
delight  in  the  sight  of  the  blood  running  from  the  knife. 

Among  his  effects  were  found  copies  of  the  objects  of 
phallic  cult  and  obscene  pictures  painted  by  himself  of 
Mary's  conception,  and  of  the  ^Hhought  of  God  injected'' 
into  the  lap  of  the  Virgin.  He  was  considered  a  peculiar, 
very  irritable  man,  shy  of  people,  fond  of  women,  moody 
and  glum.  Of  shame  and  regret  for  his  deeds  no  traces 
were  ever  found.  He  was  apparently  a  person^  who  had 
become  impotent  through  early  sexual  excesses,  and  was 
thus  predisposed,  by  the  continuance  of  intense  libido 
sexualis  and  heredity,  to  perversion  of  sexual  life. 

Case  28.  In  the  "sixties"  the  inhabitants  of  Leipzig 
were  frightened  by  a  man  who  was  accustomed  to  attack 
young  girls  on  the  street,  stabbing  them  in  the  upper-arm 
with  a  dagger.  Finally  arrested,  he  was  recognised  as  a 
sadist,  who  at  the  instant  of  stabbing  had  an  ejaculation, 
and  with  whom  the  wounding  of  the  girls  was  an  equivalent 
for  coitus.  (Wharton,  "A  Treatise  on  Mental  Unsound- 
ness," §  623.   Philadelphia,  1873.)^ 

Impotence  exists  likewise  in  the  next  three  cases.  It 
may  be  psychical,  however,  since  the  principal  tone  of  the 
vita  sexualis  lies  in  sadistic  inclination  and  the  normal  ele- 
ments are  distorted : — 

Case  29.    The  girl-cutter  of  Augshurg  (reported  by 

^Cf.  KrausSj  "Psychologie  des  Verbrecliens,"  1884,  p.  188;  Dr. 
Hofer,  "  Annalen  der  Staatsarzneikunde/'  6  Jahrgang,  Heft  2 ; 
"  Schmidt's  Jahrbiicher/'  Bd.  59,  p.  94. 

*  According  to  newspaper  reports,  in  December,  1890,  several 
similar  attacks  were  made  in  Mainz.  A  young  fellow  between  four- 
teen and  sixteen  years  of  age  pressed  against  women  and  girls  and 
stabbed  them  in  the  legs  with  a  sharp-pointed  instrument.  He  was 
arrested,  and  seemed  to  be  insane.  Further  details  of  the  case  are 
not  known. 


110 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Demme  ^^Buch  der  Verbrechen/'  vii.,  p.  281).  Bartle, 
wine-merchant.  He  was  subject  to  lively  sexual  excite- 
ment at  the  age  of  fourteen,  though  decidedly  opposed  to 
its  satisfaction  by  coitus,  his  aversion  going  so  far  as  dis- 
gust for  the  female  sex.  At  that  time  he  already  had  the 
idea  to  cut  girls,  and  thus  satisfy  his  sexual  desire.  He 
refrained  from  it,  however,  because  of  lack  of  opportunity 
and  courage.  He  disdained  masturbation,  but  now  and 
then  had  pollutions  with  erotic  dreams  of  girls  who  had 
been  cut.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  for  the  first  time  cut  a 
girl.  During  the  act  he  had  a  seminal  emission  and  ex- 
perienced intense  pleasure.  From  that  time  the  impulse 
grew  constantly  more  powerful.  He  chose  only  young  and 
pretty  girls,  and,  as  a  rule,  asked  them  before  the  deed 
whether  they  were  still  single.  The  ejaculation  or  sexual 
satisfaction  occurred  only  when  he  was  sure  that  he  had 
actually  wounded  the  girls.  After  such  an  act  he  always 
felt  tired  and  bad,  and  was  also  troubled  with  qualms  of 
conscience.  Up  to  his  thirty-second  year  he  pursued  this 
process  of  cutting,  but  was  always  careful  not  to  wound  the 
girls  dangerously.  From  that  time  until  his  thirty-sixth 
year  he  was  able  to  control  his  impulse.  Then  he  sought 
to  satisfy  himself  by  simply  pressing  the  girls  on  the  arm 
or  neck,  but  this  gave  rise  to  erections  only  and  not  to 
ejaculation.  Then  he  sought  to  attain  his  object  by  prick- 
ing the  girls  with  the  knife  left  in  its  sheath,  but  this  did 
not  suffice.  Finally,  he  stabbed  with  the  open  knife,  and 
had  complete  success,  for  he  thought  that  a  girl  when 
stabbed  bled  more  and  suffered  more  pain  than  when 
merely  cut.  In  his  thirty-seventh  year  he  was  detected  and 
arrested.  In  his  lodgings  were  found  a  collection  of  dag- 
gers, sword-canes,  and  knives.  He  said  that  the  mere  sight 
of  these  weapons,  and  still  more  the  grasping  of  them, 
gave  him  an  intense  feeling  of  sexual  pleasure,  with  vio- 
lent excitement.  According  to  his  own  confession,  he  had 
injured  in  all  fifty  girls.  His  external  appearance  was 
rather  pleasing.  He  lived  in  very  good  circumstances,  but 
was  peculiar  and  shy. 


SEXUAL  INCLllSrATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  Ill 

Case  30.  During  the  month  of  June,  1896,  quite  a 
number  of  young  girls  had  been  stabbed  in  the  genitals  in 
the  street  in  broad  daylight.  On  the  2nd  of  July  the  per- 
petrator was  caught  in  the  act.  V.,  twenty  years  of  age, 
was  hereditarily  heavily  tainted ;  when  fifteen  years  old  he 
had  been  sexually  excited  to  a  high  degree  at  the  sight  of  a 
woman's  buttocks.  From  that  time  on  it  was  this  part  of 
the  female  body  which  attracted  him  in  a  sensuous  manner 
and  became  the  object  of  his  erotic  fancies  and  dreams,  ac- 
companied by  pollutions.  Soon  this  was  coupled  with  the 
lascivious  desire  to  slap,  pinch  or  cut  the  genitals  of  women. 
At  the  moment  when  he  in  his  dreams  performed  this  act, 
pollution  took  place.  Soon  he  was  tempted  to  transfer  his 
dreams  into  real  practise.  For  a  while  he  succeeded  in 
mastering  his  morbid  craving,  but  this  produced  feelings 
of  anxiety  and  a  copious  perspiration  would  break  out  from 
his  entire  body.  When  orgasm  and  erection  became  very 
vehement,  he  would  be  overcome  with  fear  and  confusion 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  impulse  to  cut  became  irresist- 
ible. At  that  psychical  moment  ejaculation  would  take 
place,  and  he  felt  relieved  in  body  and  mind.  Magnan  in 
Thoinot's  op.  cit.  p.  451. — For  more  detailed  account  see 
Gamier  in  Annales  d'hygiene  publique,  1900,  Feb.,  p. 
112.) 

Case  31.  J.  H.,  aged  twenty-six,  in  1883  came  for 
consultation  concerning  severe  neurasthenia  and  hypochon- 
dria. Patient  confessed  that  he  had  practised  onanism 
since  his  fourteenth  year,  infrequently  up  to  his  eighteenth 
year,  but  since  that  time  he  had  been  unable  to  resist  the 
impulse.  Up  to  that  time  he  had  no  opportunity  to  ap- 
proach females,  for  he  had  been  anxiously  cared  for  and 
never  left  alone  on  account  of  being  an  invalid.  He  had 
had  no  real  desire  for  this  unknowm  pleasure,  but  he  acci- 
dentally learned  what  it  was  when  one  of  his  mother's 
maids  cut  her  hand  severely  on  a  pane  of  glass,  which  she 
had  broken  while  washing  windows.  While  helping  to 
stop  the  bleeding  he  could  not  keep  from  sucking  up  the 


112 


PSYGHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


blood  that  flowed  from  the  wound,  and  in  this  act  he  ex- 
perienced extreme  erotic  excitement,  with  complete  orgasm 
and  ejaculation. 

From  that  time  on,  he  sought,  in  every  possible  way  to 
see  and,  where  practicable,  to  taste  the  fresh  blood  of 
females.  That  of  young  girls  was  preferred  by  him.  He 
spared  no  pains  or  expense  to  obtain  this  pleasure.  At  first 
he  availed  himself  of  a  young  servant,  who  allowed  her 
finger  to  be  pricked  with  a  needle  or  lancet  at  his  request. 
When  his  mother  discovered  this,  she  discharged  the  girl. 
Then  he  was  driven  to  prostitutes  as  a  substitute,  with  suc- 
cess frequently  enough,  though  with  some  difficulty.  In 
the  intervals  he  practised  onanism  and  manustupration 
per  feminam,  which,  however,  never  afforded  him  com- 
plete satisfaction,  but,  on  the  contrary,  caused  listlessness 
and  self-reproach.  On  account  of  his  nervous  difficulties  he 
visited  many  sanatoria,  and  was  twice  a  voluntary  patient 
in  institutions.  He  used  hydrotherapy,  electricity,  and 
strengthening  cures,  without  particular  success.  Tor  a 
time  it  was  possible,  by  means  of  cold  sitz-baths,  mono- 
bromate  of  camphor,  and  bromides,  to  diminish  his  sexual 
excitability  and  onanistic  impulse.  However,  when  the 
patient  felt  himself  free  again,  he  would  immediately  fall 
into  his  old  passion,  and  spare  no  pains  or  money  to  satisfy 
his  sexual  desire  in  the  abnormal  manner  described. 

Of  special  interest  for  the  scientific  proof  of  sadism  is 
a  case  related  by  Moll  {vide  case  29,  ninth  edition  of  this 
work  (German)  and  recently  published  by  Moll  himself  in 
his  book  on  ^^Libido  Sexualis,''  p.  500. 

It  discloses  clearly  one  of  the  hidden  roots  of  sadism 
— the  impulse  to  complete  subjugation  of  the  woman, 
which  here  became  consciously  entertained.  This  is  the 
more  remarkable  since  it  occurred  in  an  individual  de- 
cidedly timid,  and  in  other  respects  modest  and  even  ap- 
prehensive. The  case  also  shows  clearly  that  powerful 
libido  which  even  impels  the  individual  to  overcome  all 
obstacles,  may  be  present,  while  at  the  same  time  coitus  is 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWABD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  113 

not  desired,  because  the  principal  intensity  of  feeling  is, 
ab  origine,  connected  with  the  cruel  part  of  the  sadistic 
(lustful  and  cruel)  circle  of  ideas.  This  case  also  con- 
tains weak  elements  of  masochism  {v.  infra). 

Cases  are  by  no  means  infrequent  in  which  men  with 
perverse  inclinations  induce  prostitutes,  by  paying  them 
high  prices,  to  allow  themselves  to  be  whipped  and  even 
wounded  by  them.  Works  on  prostitution  contain  reports 
of  them  {vide  Coffignorij  "La  Corruption  a  Paris,''  etc.). 

(d)  Defilement  of  Women. 

The  perverse  sadistic  impulse,  to  injure  women  and  put 
contempt  and  humiliation  upon  them,  is  also  expressed  in 
the  desire  to  defile  them  with  disgusting  or,  at  least  foul 
things. 

The  following  case,  published  by  Arndt  ("Viertel- 
jahrsschr.  f.  ger.  Medicin,''  'N.  F.  xvii.,  H.  1),  belongs 
here : — 

Case  32.    A.,  medical  student  at  Greifswald,  accu- 

satus  quod  iterum  iterumque  puellis  honestis  parentibus 
natis  in  publico  genitalia  sua  e  brads  dependentia  plane 
nudata  quce  antea  summo  amiculo  (overcoat)  tecta  erant, 
ostenderat.  Nonnunquam  puellas  fugientes  secutus  easque 
ad  se  attractas  urina  oblivit.  Hcec  luce  clara  facta  sunt; 
nunquam  aliquid  hcec  faciens  locutus  est. 

A.  was  twenty-three  years  old,  well  built,  neat  in  dress, 
and  polite  in  manners.  Indication  of  cranium  progeneum; 
chronic  pneumonia  of  the  apex  of  the  right  lung;  emphy- 
sema. Pulse,  60;  in  excitement  not  more  than  70  to  80. 
Genitals  normal.  Occasional  disturbances  of  digestion, 
and  hardness  of  the  abdomen,  vertigo,  excessive  excitement 
of  sexual  desires,  early  led  to  onanism.  The  sexual  desire 
never  was  directed  toward  a  natural  method  of  satisfac- 
tion. Occasional  attacks  of  depression,  or  thoughts  of  de- 
precation of  self,  and  of  perverse  impulses,  for  which  he 

8 


114 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


could  find  no  motive,  such  as  laughing  at  serious  things, 
throwing  his  money  in  the  water,  and  running  about  in  the 
pouring  rain.  The  father  of  the  culprit  was  of  a  nervous 
temperament,  the  mother  subject  to  nervous  headaches.  A 
brother  was  subject  to  epileptic  convulsions. 

From  his  youth  the  culprit  presented  a  nervous  tem- 
perament, was  inclined  to  convulsions  and  attacks  of  syn- 
cope, and  when  severely  scolded  would  fall  into  a  state  of 
momentary  stiffness.  In  1869  he  studied  medicine  in  Ber- 
lin. In  1870  he  went  to  the  war  as  a  hospital  assistant. 
His  letters  at  this  time  betray  peculiar  torpidity  and  soft- 
ness. On  his  return  home,  in  1871,  his  emotional  irrita- 
bility was  noticed  at  once  by  those  about  him.  Thereafter 
frequent  complaints  of  bodily  ailments;  unpleasantness 
resulting  from  a  love  affair.  In  November,  1871,  he  pur- 
sued his  studies  diligently  in  Greifswald.  He  was  con- 
sidered very  gentlemanly.  In  confinement  he  was  quiet, 
calm,  and  sometimes  self-absorbed.  His  acts  he  attributed 
to  painful  sexual  excitement,  which  of  late  had  become 
excessive.  He  declared  that  he  had  been  fully  conscious 
of  his  perverse  acts,  and  after  committing  them  had  always 
been  ashamed  of  them.  He  had  not  experienced  actual 
sexual  satisfaction  in  their  commission.  He  obtained  no 
correct  insight  into  his  position.  He  considered  himself  a 
kind  of  martyr — a  victim  to  an  evil  power.  Presumption 
of  irresponsibility,  as  a  result  of  absence  of  free  will. 

The  impulse  to  defile  occurs  also,  paradoxically,  in  the 
aged,  when  there  is  a  reappearance  of  sexual  instinct, 
which,  under  such  circumstances,  is  so  often  expressed  in 
perverse  acts.  Thus  Tarnowsky  reports  (p.  76)  the  follow- 
ing case : — 

Case  33.  I  knew  such  a  patient,  who  had  a  woman 
dressed  in  a  decollete  ball-dress  lie  down  on  a  low  sofa  in  a 
brightly  lighted  room.  Ipse  apud  januam  alius  cuhiculi 
obscurati  constitit  adspiciendo  aliquantulum  feminam,  ex- 
citatus  in  earn  insiluit  et  excrementa  in  sinus  ejus  deposuit. 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  115 

Hcec  faciens  ejaculationem  quandam  se  sentire  confessus 
est. 

An  officer  of  Vienna  informed  me  that  men,  by  means 
of  large  sums  of  money,  induce  prostitutes  to  suffer  ut  illi 
viri  in  ora  earum  spuerent  et  faeces  et  urinas  in  ora  exple- 
rent.^ 

The  following  case  by  Dr.  Pascal  (^^Igiene  deli' 
amore")  seems  also  to  belong  here: — 

Case  34.  A  man  had  an  inamorata  who  would  allow 
him  to  blacken  her  hands  with  coal  or  soot.  She  then  had 
to  sit  before  a  mirror  in  such  a  way  that  he  could  see  her 
hands  in  it.  While  conversing  with  her,  which  was  often 
for  a  long  time,  he  looked  constantly  at  her  mirrored 
hands,  and  finally,  after  a  time,  he  would  take  his  leave, 
fully  satisfied. 

The  following  case,  communicated  by  a  physician,  may 
be  of  interest  in  relation  to  this  subject : — 

An  officer  was  known  in  a  brothel  in  K.  only  by  the 
name  of  ^^Oil".  ^^Oil  induced  erection  and  ejaculation 
only  by  having  puell.  puhl.  nudam  step  into  a  tub  filled 
with  oil,  while  he  rubbed  the  oil  all  over  her  body. 

These  acts  lead  to  the  presumption  that  certain  cases 
of  injury  to  the  clothing  of  females  {e.g.,  sprinkling  them 
with  sulphuric  acid,  ink,  etc.)  depend  upon  a  perverse  sex- 
ual impulse;  at  any  rate  the  motive  seems  to  be  to  inflict 
an  injury,  or  pain  of  some  sort,  and  those  injured  are 
always  females,  and  the  perpetrators  males.  In  crimes  of 
this  kind,  pains  should  always  be  taken  to  examine  into  the 
vita  sexualis  of  the  culprits. 

The  case  of  Bachmann,  given  below.  Case  120,  throws 
a  clear  light  on  the  sexual  nature  of  such  crimes;  for,  in 
this  case,  the  sexual  motive  in  the  deed  is  proven. 

^Leo  Taxil  ("La  Corruption,"  Paris,  Noiret,  p.  223)  makes  the 
same  statements.  There  are  also  men  who  demand  introductio  Ivngucd 
meretricis  in  anum. 


116 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  35.    B.,  age  twenty-nine,  merchant,  married, 

heavily  tainted,  since  his  sixteenth  year  masturbation  by 
means  of  a  pocket  electric  battery,  neurasthenic,  impotent 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  for  a  while  absynth  drinker  on  ac- 
count of  unrequited  love.  One  day  meeting  a  nurse-maid 
wearing  a  white  apron  such  as  his  love  used  to  wear,  he 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  steal  the  white  apron. 
He  took  it  home  and  after  masturbating  into  it  burn  it  with 
renewed  masturbation.  Returning  to  the  street  he  met  a 
woman  wearing  a  white  dress.  The  sight  of  it  produced 
an  impulse  to  stain  the  dress  with  ink.  Having  done  it  he 
went  home  revelling  in  the  sensual  situation  thus  provoked 
and  again  masturbated.  At  another  time  strolling  about 
the  street  he  amused  himself  with  cutting  the  dresses  of 
women  with  a  penknife.  He  was  arrested  as  a  pick-pocket. 
At  other  times  a  stain  on  a  lady's  dress  caused  orgasm  and 
ejaculation  in  him.  He  obtained  the  same  results  while 
burning  with  a  cigar  a  hole  into  the  clothing  of  women 
whom  he  passed.  {Magnan,  reported  by  v.  Thoinot,  at- 
tentats aux  moeurs,  p.  434,  and  by  Gamier^  annales  d'  hy- 
giene publ.,  1900,  March,  p.  237.) 

Oarnier  (annales  d'  hygiene  1900,  Feb'y-March)  has 
given  these  cases  of  sadism  special  attention  reducing  them 
to  fetichism  {vide  infra).  This  is  particularly  apparent 
in  case  35  in  which  the  fetich  consisted  in  a  blue  dress  cov- 
ered with  a  white  apron.  The  personality  of  the  wearer 
was  a  matter  of  indifference,  it  was  the  fetich  that  fas- 
cinated, the  impulse  being  irresistible.  Garnier  calls  these 
cases  Sadi-Fetichism  and  points  out  their  social  and  for- 
ensic importance,  suggesting  confinement  of  such  unfor- 
tunate individuals  in  an  insane  asylum.  Destructive  ac- 
tions like  these  towards  the  fetich  which,  properly  speak- 
ing, is  an  object  of  desire  and  possession,  this  sadism  on 
lifeless  objects,  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  fetich 
awakens  sensual  sensations  coupled  in  sadistic  natures  with 
the  pleasure  derived  from  acts  of  cruelty  and  destruction. 

In  fetichism,  well-developed,  the  fetich  itself — ab- 
stracted from  the  personality  of  the  wearer — it  dominates 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  117 

per  se  the  whole  vita  sexualis,  brings  it  into  action  and  may 
under  circumstances  awaken  kindred  regions  of  a  sadistic 
nature  which  find  gratification  in  the  field  of  the  (imper- 
sonal) fetich.  The  sadistic  act  in  itself  is  often  enough  an 
equivalent  for  coitus  rendered  impossible  by  physical  and 
psychical  impotence.  It  may  be  practised  on  boys,  animals, 
persons  of  the  same  sex,  without  relation  to  paedophilia, 
zoophilia  or  homosexuality. 

It  is  remarkable  and  seems  to  prove  the  connection  with 
lust-cruelty  that  at  the  moment  of  the  destroying  act  against 
the  fetich  (cutting  off  girl's  tresses,  stabbing  women,  de- 
filing ladies'  toilets,  etc.)  orgasm  and  ejaculation  take  place 
in  the  ^^sadi-fetichist.'' 

A.  Moll  (Zeitschr.  f.  Medicinalbeamte)  has  recently 
published  a  case  which  may  be  considered  classical : — 

An  academically  cultured  man,  age  thirty-one  years, 
heavily  tainted  by  heredity,  offspring  from  a  marriage  be- 
tween blood-relations,  always  shy  and  retired,  used  to  rump 
about  when  growing  into  puberty  (17)  with  the  play-fel- 
lows of  his  sister,  girls  about  eleven  years  of  age,  and  from 
the  sight  of  their  white  underwear  became  a  ^ ^laundry  fet- 
ichist.''  He  began  to  masturbate  thinking  of  girls  clad  in 
white  garments  and  manipulating  during  the  act  light- 
coloured  pieces  of  clothing  belonging  to  his  female  rela- 
tives. 

When  twenty-three  years  of  age  he  began  coitus  with 
girls  dressed  in  white.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  saw  a 
girl's  white  dress  being  bespattered  with  mud.  This  pro- 
duced a  very  strong  sexual  emotion  in  him  and  from  that 
time  on  he  felt  an  irresistible  impulse  to  defile  the  apparel 
of  women,  to  crush  and  tear  it.  This  impulse  was  par- 
ticularly provoked  at  the  sight  of  women  clad  in  white.  He 
used  liquor  ferri  sesqui-chlorati  or  ink  and  thus  produced 
orgasm  and  ejaculation.  At  times  he  had  dreams  of  white 
female  underwear  which  were  accompanied  by  pollution  at 
the  moment  of  touching  or  crushing  it.  Insanity  could 
not  be  established.  He  was  mulcted  in  the  sum  of  50  mark? 
for  unlawfully  causing  damage  to  personal  property. 


V 


118 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


(e)  Other  Kinds  of  Assault  on  Females — Symbolic  Sadism. 

The  foregoing  groups  do  not  exhaust  the  forms  in  which 
the  sadistic  impulse  toward  women  is  expressed.  If  the 
impulse  is  not  overmastering,  or  if  there  is  yet  sufficient 
moral  resistance,  it  may  happen  that  the  perverse  inclina- 
tion is  satisfied  by  an  act  that  is  apparently  quite  sense- 
less and  silly,  but  which  has  nevertheless  a  symbolic  mean- 
ing for  the  perpetrator.  This  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of 
the  two  following  cases : — 

Case  36.  (Dr.  Pascal,  ^^Igiene  dell'  amore'\)  A 
man  was  accustomed  to  go,  on  a  certain  day  once  a  month, 
to  an  inamorata  and  cut  her  ^^fringe''.  This  gave  him  the 
greatest  pleasure.   He  made  no  other  demands  on  the  girl. 

Case  37.  A  man  in  Vienna  regularly  visited  several 
prostitutes  only  to  lather  their  faces  and  then  to  remove 
the  lather  with  a  razor,  as  if  he  were  shaving  them.  He 
never  hurt  the  girls,  but  became  sexually  excited  and  ejacu- 
lAted  during  the  procedure.^ 

(/.)  Ideal  Sadism. 

Sadism  may  eventually  manifest  itself  solely  in  the  im- 
agination, i.e. J,  in  dream  pictures  which  accompany  the  act 
of  masturbation  or  accompany  the  process  of  pollution  in 
sadistic  fancies. 

That  it  remains  an  ideal  act^only  may  be  due  to  want  of 
opportunity  or  courage  to  put  it  into  practical  action  or 
that  latent  ethics  forbid  violence,  or  it  may  be  that  when 
debility  of  the  centre  of  ejaculation  is  pronounced,  a  vivid 
sadistic  impression  suffices  to  provoke  ejaculatory  gratifica- 
tion. In  this  case  sadism  is  merely  an  equivalent  for  coitus. 

^Leo  Taxil  {op,  cit,,  p.  224)  relates  that  in  Parisian  brothels 
instruments  are  kept  ready  which  look  like  knouts,  but  which  are 
merely  tubes  filled  with  air^  such  as  clowns  use  in  circuses.  Sadistic 
men  use  them  to  create  for  themselves  the  illusion  that  they  are 
whipping  women. 


SEXUAL  Iiq^CLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  119 

Case  38.  D.,  agent,  age  twenty-nine  years,  family 
heavily  tainted,  masturbation  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  coitus 
at  twenty,  but  without  pronounced  libido  or  satisfaction, 
hereafter  masturbation  preferred.  At  first  these  acts  were 
accompanied  by  the  thought  of  a  girl  whom  he  could  mal- 
treat and  subject  to  humiliating  and  infamous  actions. 

Eeading  of  acts  of  violence  on  women  excited  him  sex- 
ually. But  he  did  not  like  to  see  blood  either  on  himself 
or  on  others.   He  hated  the  sight  of  a  naked  woman. 

He  never  felt  inclined  to  put  his  sadistic  ideas  into  ac- 
tual practice  for  unnatural  sexual  intercourse  he  disliked. 

He  could  not  account  for  his  sadistic  ideas.  These 
statements  he  made  at  a  consultation  for  neurasthenia. 

Case  39.    Ideal  sadism  with  "Podex-Fetichism.'' 

P.,  age  twenty-two,  of  independent  means,  heavily 
tainted  by  heredity,  by  accident  saw  the  governess  chastis- 
ing his  sister  (fourteen  years  of  age)  ad  podicem  inter 
genua.  This  made  a  deep  impression  on  him  and  hence- 
forth he  had  a  constant  desire  to  see  and  touch  his  sister's 
buttocks.  By  some  clever  stratagem  he  succeeded.  When 
seven  years  old  he  became  the  play-fellow  of  two  small 
girls,  of  which  one  was  tiny  and  lean,  the  other  rather 
plump.  He  played  the  role  of  the  father  chastising  his 
children.  The  lean  girl  he  simply  spanked  over  the  clothes. 
The  other,  however,  allowed  him  to  smack  her  bare  bottom 
(she  was  then  ten  years  old).  This  gave  him  great  sexual 
pleasure  and  caused  erection. 

One  day,  after  being  chastised  in  this  manner  the  gir] 
asked  him  to  look  at  her  pudenda.  But  he  refused  the  in- 
vitation as  this  view  did  not  interest  him  in  the  least. 

At  the  age  of  nine  he  became  acquainted  with  a  boy  a 
little  older  than  himself.  One  day  they  came  across  a  pic- 
ture representing  the  scene  of  flagellation  in  a  monk's  mon- 
astery. P.  soon  persuaded  his  companion  to  enact  the 
scene.  The  latter  consented  to  playing  the  passive  role 
and  found  delight  in  it.  This  was  often  repeated.  On  one 
occasion   P.    assumed   the   passive   role   but   it  gave 


120 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


him  no  pleasure.  This  relation  between  the  two  con- 
tinued till  they  grew  up  into  manhood,  and  P.  always  ejac- 
ulated during  the  flagellation.  He  dominated  over  his 
friend,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  superior  being.  Only 
twice  whilst  this  friendship  lasted  did  P.  attempt  this  pro- 
cedure on  other  persons ;  once  on  a  nurse-maid  whose  bare 
bottom  he  smacked,  and  once  in  the  street  on  a  girl,  eleven 
years  old,  whose  cries,  however,  drove  him  to  hasty  flight. 

He  never  felt  any  inclination  to  masturbation,  coitus 
with  girls,  nor  antipathic  sexual  sensations.  He  confined 
himself  to  touch  the  buttocks  of  women  when  in  a  crowd, 
or  of  girls  whilst  mixing  with  them  on  the  playground,  to 
look  under  the  dresses  of  women  climbing  the  stairs  of  an 
omnibus  or  watch  little  girls  undressing  themselves. 

He  practised  ^^Sadism-Fetichism".  His  fancy  revelled 
in  situations  in  which  he  flagellated  his  younger  brother,  a 
nurse-maid  or  a  nun;  he  invented  stories  which  always 
ended  in  a  scene  of  flagellation;  answered  advertisements 
such  as :  ^^Dame  severe  demande  eleve"  and  derived  the  ut- 
most delight  from  the  correspondence  that  followed ;  made 
drawings  of  flagellation  scenes,  of  bare  female  buttocks, 
ransacked  the  libraries  for  books  containing  sadistic  writ- 
ings, made  abstracts  of  the  whole  literature,  collected 
pictures  referring  to  this  favourite  subject  and  designed 
such  himself  in  keeping  with  the  progress  he  made  in 
developing  his  perversion. 

The  flights  of  his  fancy  rose  from  the  exhibition  of  the 
naked  buttocks,  to  smacking,  flagellating  and  even  teasing 
them,  even  to  the  murder  of  the  owner.  The  latter  act, 
however,  frightened  him.  The  ever  recurring  ejaculations 
finally  brought  on  severe  neurasthenia.  He  never  could 
make  up  his  mind  to  seek  medical  advice.  At  last  he  found 
a  woman  with  whom  he  could  have  coitus  as  she  permitted 
.  him  to  flagellate  her  during  the  act. 

(Regis,  Archives  d'  anthropologic  criminelle,  N.  82, 
July,  1899.) 

Case  40.    Merchant,  forty  years  of  age,  abnormally 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  121 

early  hetero-  and  hypersexuality.  From  his  twentieth  year 
occasionally  coitus  and  faute  de  mieux  masturbation.  In 
consequence  of  fright  (surprise  during  coitus)  psychical 
impotence.  Treatment  unsuccessful.  This  affected  his 
mind  and  he  came  near  to  despair.  He  now  tried  imma- 
ture girls  with  whom  impotence  could  not  put  him  to 
shame.  His  moral  will  power,  still  unimpaired,  enabled 
him  to  resist  this  impulse,  however,  and  he  found  satisfac- 
tion to  go  with  girls  legally  of  age  and  no  longer  innocent, 
but  they  must  in  appearance  be  younger  than  their  years. 
In  such  cases  his  impotence  disappeared.  One  day  he  saw 
a  lady  smiting  the  face  of  her  daughter,  fourteen  years  old. 
This  produced  at  once  violent  erection  and  orgasm  in  him. 
The  thought  of  it  had  the  same  result.  From  that  time  he 
found  a  mighty  stimulant  in  seeing  girls,  no  matter  how 
young,  beaten ;  even  reading  or  hearing  of  maltreatment  of 
females  had  the  same  result. 

That  the  retarded  sadism  in  this  case  was  not  acquired 
but  only  latent  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  it  ever  existed 
in  an  ideal  form.  It  was  part  of  the  sensual  idea  predom- 
inant in  him  that  he  introduced  ''extremitatem  superiorem 
in  vaginam  femince  usque  ad  scapularn'  and  groped  about 
within.  [Other  cases  of  ideal  sadism  see  Moll  (Libido  sex- 
ualis,  pp.  324  and  500)  ;  Krafft,  ''Arbeiten,"  iv.  p.  163.] 

(g)  Sadism  with  Any  Other  Object — Whipping  of  Boys. 

The  sadistic  acts  with  females  just  now  described  are 
also  practised  on  other  living,  sensitive  objects, — children 
and  animals.  There  may  be  a  full  consciousness  that  the 
impulse  is  really  directed  towards  women,  and  that  only 
faute  de  mieux  the  nearest  attainable  objects  (pupils)  are 
abused.  But  the  condition  of  the  perpetrator  may  be  such 
that  the  impulse  to  cruel  acts  enters  consciousness  accom- 
panied only  by  lustful  excitement,  while  its  real  object 
(which  alone  can  explain  the  lustful  colouring  of  such 
acts)  remains  latent. 

The  first  alternative  suffices  as  an  explanation  of  the 


122 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


cases  whicli  Dr.  Albert  describes  (Friedreich's  ^^Blatter  f. 
ger.  Med./'  p.  77,  1859), — cases  in  which  lustful  teachers 
whipped  their  pupils  on  the  naked  buttocks  without  cause. 
We  must  think  of  the  second  alternative,  the  sadistic  im- 
pulse with  unconsciousness  of  its  object,  when  the  sight 
of  punishment  causes  spontaneous  sexual  excitement  in  the 
witness  and  thus  becomes  the  determining  factor  in  his 
future  vita  sexualisj,  as  in  the  following  cases : — 

Case  41.  K.,  aged  twenty-five,  merchant,  applied  to 
me  in  the  fall  of  1889  for  advice  concerning  an  anomaly 
of  his  vita  sexualis,  which  made  him  fear  invalidism  and 
impossibility  of  future  happiness  in  marriage. 

Patient  came  of  a  nervous  family.  As  a  child  he  was 
delicate,  weak  and  nervous.  Healthy  except  for  measles; 
later  on  he  became  more  robust. 

At  the  age  of  eight,  while  at  school,  he  saw  the  teacher 
punish  the  boys  by  taking  their  heads  between  his  thighs 
and  spanking  them  with  a  ferule.  This  sight  caused  the 
patient  lustful  excitement.  ^^Without  any  idea  of  the 
danger  and  enormity  of  onanism,"  he  satisfied  himself  with 
it,  and  from  that  time  often  masturbated,  always  calling 
up  the  memory-picture  of  a  boy  being  punished. 

Thus  it  continued  until  his  twentieth  year.  Then  he 
learned  the  significance  of  onanism,  was  terribly  fright- 
ened, and  tried  to  overcome  his  impulse  to  masturbate ;  but 
he  fell  into  the  practice  of  psychical  onanism,  which  he  re- 
garded as  innocuous  and  morally  defensible,  and  for  which 
he  made  use  of  the  memory-pictures  of  boys  being  whipped, 
previously  mentioned. 

Patient  now  became  neurasthenic,  suffered  with  pollu- 
tions, and  tried  to  cure  himself  by  visiting  brothels ;  but  he 
could  not  induce  erection.  Then  he  sought  to  obtain  normal 
sexual  feelings  by  means  of  social  intercourse  with  ladies : 
but  he  recognised  that  he  was  entirely  insensible  to  the 
charms  of  the  fair  sex. 

The  patient  was  an  intelligent  man,  normally  devel- 
oped, and  of  aesthetic  taste.    There  was  no  inclination  to 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWAED  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  123 

persons  of  his  own  sex.  My  advice  consisted  of  means  to 
combat  the  neurasthenia  and  pollutions;  interdiction  of 
psychical  and  manual  onanism ;  avoidance  of  all  sexual  ex- 
citants ;  and,  possibly,  hypnotic  treatment  to  ultimately  in- 
duce a  return  of  the  vita  sexualis  to  its  normal  condition. 

Case  42.  Abortive  sadism.  'N.y  student,  came  under 
observation  in  December,  1890.  He  had  practised  mastur- 
bation from  early  youth.  According  to  his  statements,  he 
became  sexually  excited  when  he  saw  his  father  whip  the 
children,  and,  later,  when  he  saw  his  companions  whipped 
by  the  teacher.  When  a  spectator  of  such  scenes,  he  always 
experienced  lustful  feelings.  He  could  not  say  exactly 
when  this  first  occurred,  but  it  may  have  been  at  about  the 
age  of  six.  He  could  not  tell  exactly  when  he  began  to  mas- 
turbate, but  he  stated  with  certainty  that  his  sexual  in- 
stinct was  first  awakened  by  the  punishment  of  others,  and 
thus  he  unconsciously  came  to  practise  masturbation.  The 
patient  remembered  clearly  that  from  the  age  of  four  to 
the  age  of  eight  he  was  frequently  spanked,  and  that  this 
caused  him  pain,  never  lustful  pleasure. 

Since  he  did  not  always  have  opportunity  to  see  others 
whipped,  he  began  to  imagine  how  others  were  punished. 
This  excited  his  lust,  and  he  would  then  masturbate. 
Whenever  he  could,  he  managed  to  see  others  punished  at 
school.  IsTow  and  then  he  also  felt  desire  to  whip  others. 
At  the  age  of  twelve  he  induced  a  comrade  to  allow  him  to 
whip  him.  He  found  great  sexual  pleasure  in  it.  When, 
however,  his  companion  beat  him  in  return  he  experienced 
nothing  but  pain. 

The  impulse  to  beat  others  was  never  very  strong. 
The  patient  experienced  more  satisfaction  in  filling  his 
imagination  with  scenes  of  whipping.  He  never  indulged 
in  any  other  sadistic  acts,  and  never  had  any  desire  to  see 
blood,  etc.  Up  to  his  fifteenth  year  his  sexual  indulgence 
consisted  of  masturbation,  coupled  with  such  fancies.  After 
that  (dancing  lessons,  association  with  girls)  the  early 
fancies  disappeared  almost  entirely  and  were  accompanied 


124 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


by  but  weak  lustful  feelings;  so  that  the  patient  gave 
them  up  entirely.  In  their  place  came  thoughts  of  coitus 
in  a  natural  way,  without  anything  sadistic. 

The  patient  indulged  in  coitus  for  the  first  time  ^^on 
account  of  his  health."  He  was  potent,  and  the  act 
gratified  him.  He  then  tried  to  abstain  from  masturbation, 
but  was  not  successful,  though  he  often  indulged  in 
coitus,  and  with  more  pleasure  than  he  had  in  masturba- 
tion. He  wished  to  be  freed  from  masturbation  as  some- 
thing vicious.  He  had  coitus  once  a  month,  but  mastur- 
bated once  or  twice  every  night.  He  was  sexually  normal^ 
excepting  the  masturbation.  There  was  no  neurasthenia; 
genitals  normal. 

Case  43.  P.,  aged  15,  of  high  social  position,  came 
of  an  hysterical  mother  whose  brother  and  father  died  in 
an  asylum.  Two  children  of  the  family  died  in  early  child- 
hood of  convulsions.  The  patient  was  talented,  virtuous, 
and  quiet ;  but  at  times  he  was  very  disobedient,  stubborn, 
and  of  violent  temper.  He  had  epilepsy,  and  practised 
masturbation.  One  day  it  was  learned  that  P.,  with  money, 
induced  a  comrade  of  fourteen,  B.,  to  allow  himself  to 
be  pinched  in  the  arms,  genitals,  and  thighs.  When  B. 
cried,  P.  became  excited  and  struck  at  B.  with  his  right 
hand,  while  with  his  left  he  made  manipulations  in  the 
left  pocket  of  his  trousers.  P.  confessed  that  to  maltreat 
his  friend,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond,  gave  him  peculiar 
delight;  and  that  ejaculation  while  hurting  his  friend 
gave  him  much  more  pleasure  than  when  he  masturbated 
alone.  (v.  OyurJcovechhy,  ^Tathol.  und  Therapie  der 
mannl.  Impotenz.,''  p.  80,  1889). 

Case  44.  K.,  fifty  years  of  age,  without  occupation, 
heavily  tainted,  satisfied  his  perverse  sexual  feelings  ex- 
clusively on  boys  of  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  whom  he 
seduced  to  mutual  masturbation.  At  the  acme  of  the  sit- 
uation he  would  pierce  the  lobe  of  the  boy's  ear.  When 
this,  later  on,  proved  inefficient^  he  cut  off  the  lobe  of  a 


SEXUAL  INCLINATION  TOWAKD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  125 


boy's  ear.  He  was  arrested  and  sentenced  to  five  years^ 
imprisonment.    {Thoinot,  op.  cit.,  p.  452.) 

That  in  all  these  cases  of  sadistic  abuse  of  boys  there 
can  be  no  thought  of  a  combination  of  sadism  and  anti- 
pathetic sexual  instinct,  as  often  occurs  {v,  infra)  in  indi- 
viduals of  inverted  sexuality,  is  shown — aside  from  the 
absence  of  all  positive  signs  of  it — by  a  study  of  the  next 
group,  where,  in  association  with  the  object  of  injury, — 
animals, — the  instinct  for  women  is  seen  to  appear 
repeatedly. 

(h)  Sadistic  Acts  with  Animals. 

In  numerous  cases,  sadistically  perverse  men,  afraid 
of  criminal  acts  with  human  beings,  or  who  care  only 
for  the  sight  of  the  suffering  of  a  sensitive  being,  make 
use  of  the  sight  of  dying  animals,^  or  torture  animals,  to 
stimulate  or  excite  their  lust. 

The  case  of  a  man  in  Vienna,  which  is  reported  by 
Hofmann  in  his  ^^Text-Book  of  Legal  Medicine,^'  is  note- 
worthy in  relation  to  this.  According  to  the  evidence  of 
several  prostitutes,  before  the  sexual  act  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  excite  himself  by  torturing  and  killing  chickens 
and  pigeons  and  other  birds,  and,  therefore,  was  called 
^^Hendlherr''  (chickenmister). 

For  the  elucidation  of  such  cases  the  observation  of 
Lombroso  is  of  value,  according  to  whom  two  men  had 
ejaculation  when  they  killed  chickens  or  pigeons,  or  wrung 
their  necks. 

The  same  author,  in  his  ^^TJomo  delinquente,''  p.  201, 
speaks  of  a  poet  of  some  reputation,  who  became  power- 
fully excited  sexually  whenever  he  saw  calves  slaughtered, 
and  also  at  the  sight  of  bloody  meat. 

Mantegazza  (op.  cit.  p.  114)  relates  that  among  degene- 
rate Chinese  the  practice  prevails  to  sodomise  geese  and 
at  the  moment  of  ejaculation  to  cut  off  their  heads. 

^Dimitri,  the  son  of  Ivan  the  Cruel,  derived  unspeakable  pleas- 
ure when  witnessing  the  death  struggles  of  sheep,  chickens  and 
geese.    ( Biblioth^que  de  Criminologie,  xix.,  p.  278.) 


y 


126 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Mantegazza  ("Fisiologia  del  piacere/'  fifth  ed.,  pp. 
394,  395)  mentions  the  case  of  a  man  who  once  saw  chick- 
ens killed,  and  from  that  time  had  a  desire  to  wallow  in 
their  warm,  steaming  entrails,  because  he  experienced  a 
feeling  of  lust  while  doing  it. 

Thus,  in  these  and  similar  cases,  the  vita  sexualis  is 
so  constituted  ab  origine  that  the  sight  of  blood,  death, 
etc.,  excites  lustful  feeling.  It  is  so  in  the  following 
case : — 

Case  45.  0.  L.,  aged  forty-two,  engineer,  married, 
father  of  two  children ;  from  a  neuropathic  family ;  father 
irascible,  a  drinker;  mother  hysterical,  subject  to  eclamptic 
attacks.  The  patient  remembers  that  in  childhood  he 
took  particular  pleasure  in  witnessing  the  slaughtering  of 
domestic  animals,  especially  swine.  He  thus  experienced 
lustful  pleasure  and  ejaculation.  Later  he  visited  slaughter- 
houses, in  order  to  delight  in  the  sight  of  flowing  blood 
and  the  death  throes  of  the  animals.  When  he  could  find 
opportunity,  he  killed  the  animals  himself,  which  always 
afforded  him  a  vicarious  feeling  of  sexual  pleasure. 

At  the  time  of  full  maturity  he  first  attained  to  a 
knowledge  of  his  abnormality.  The  patient  was  not 
exactly  opposed  in  inclination  to  women,  but  close  contact 
with  them  seemed  to  him  repugnant.  On  the  advice  of 
a  physician,  at  twenty-five  he  married  a  woman  who 
pleased  him,  in  the  hope  of  freeing  himself  of  his  abnor- 
mal condition.  Although  he  was  very  partial  to  his  wife, 
it  was  only  seldom,  and  after  great  trouble  and  exertion  of 
his  imagination,  that  he  could  perform  coitus  with  her; 
nevertheless,  he  begat  two  children.  In  1866  he  was  in 
the  war  in  Bohemia.  His  letters  written  at  that  time  to 
his  wife,  were  composed  in  an  exalted,  enthusiastic  tone. 
He  was  missed  after  the  battle  of  Koniggratz. 

If,  in  this  case,  the  capability  of  normal  coitus  waa 
much  impaired  by  the  predominance  of  perverse  ideas,  in 
the  following  it  seems  to  have  been  entirely  repressed: — 


SEXUAL  INCLIKTATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  127 

Case  46.  (Dr.  Pascal,  ^^Igiene  dell'  amore  ")  A 
gentleman  visited  prostitutes,  had  them  purchase  a  living 
fowl  or  rabbit,  and  made  them  torture  the  animal.  He 
particularly  revelled  in  the  sight  of  cutting  oflf  the  heads 
and  tearing  out  the  eyes  and  entrails.  If  he  found  a  girl 
who  would  consent,  and  go  about  it  right  cruelly,  he  was 
delighted,  and  paid  her  and  went  his  way  without  asking 
anything  more  or  touching  her. 

Interesting  is  the  awakening  of  sadistic  feelings  to- 
ward animals  as  related  in  the  following  case  of  Fere: — 

Case  47.  B.,  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  tanner, 
tainted,  began  masturbation  at  the  age  of  nine.  One  day, 
as  he  was  about  to  masturbate  with  another  boy  at  the 
corner  of  a  street,  where  the  gradient  was  very  steep,  a 
heavily  laden  dray  pulled  by  four  horses  came  along.  The 
driver  yelled  at  the  horses  and  whipped  them.  The  horses 
slipped  about  a  good  deal  and  made  the  sparks  fly  from 
the  cobble  stones.  This  excited  B.  very  much  and  he 
ejaculated  as  one  of  the  horses  fell.  Ever  afterwards  a 
similar  occurrence  would  have  the  same  effect  on  him 
and  he  went  in.  search  of  it.  If  the  difficulty  was  overcome 
without  extra  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  horse,  or  with- 
out the  use  of  the  whip,  B.  became  only  excited  and  he 
had  to  resort  to  masturbation  or  coitus  to  find  final  sat- 
isfaction. Even  after  he  was  married  and  had  children, 
sadism  continued.  When  one  of  his  children  fell  ill  with 
chorea,  B.  had  hysterical  attacks.  (Fere,  Tinstinct  sexuel, 
p.  255). 

The  last  two  sections,  g  and  Ti,  show  that  the  suffering 
of  any  living  being  may  become  a  source  of  perverse  sexual 
enjoyment  to  sadistically  constituted  persons,  and  that 
there  may  be  sadism  with  almost  any  [living]  object. 
However,  it  would  be  erroneous  and  an  exaggeration  to  try 
to  explain  by  sadistic  perversion  all  the  remarkable  and 
surprising  acts  of  cruelty  that  occur,  and  to  assume  sadism 


128 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


as  the  motive  underlying  all  the  horrors  recorded  in  history 
or  found  in  certain  psychological  manifestations  among 
the  peoples  of  the  present  time. 

Cruelty  arises  from  various  sources  and  is  natural  to 
primitive  man.  Compassion,  in  contrast  with  it,  is  a 
secondary  manifestation  and  acquired  late.  The  instinct 
to  fight  and  destroy,  so  important  an  endowment  in  pre- 
historic conditions,  is  long  afterwards  operative;  and,  in 
the  ideas  engendered  by  civilisation,  like  that  of  ^^the 
criminal,''  it  finds  new  objects,  so  long  as  its  original 
object — ^^the  enemy" — still  exists.  That  not  simply  the 
death,  but  also  torture  of  the  conquered  is  demanded,  is 
in  part  explained  by  the  sense  of  power,  which  satisfies 
itself  in  this  way,  and  in  part  by  the  insatiableness  of  the 
impulse  of  vengeance.  Thus  all  horrors  and  historical 
enormities  may  be  explained  without  recourse  to  sadism 
(which  may  often  enough  have  been  the  motive,  but 
should  not  be  assumed  as  such,  since  it  is  a  relatively 
rare  perversion). 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  still  another  powerful 
psychical  element  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  which 
explains  the  attraction  which  is  still  exerted  by  execu- 
tions, etc, ;  viz.,  the  pleasure  which  is  produced  by  intense 
and  unusual  impressions  and  rare  sights,  in  contrast  to 
which,  in  coarse  and  blunted  beings,  pity  is  silent. 

But  undoubtedly  there  are  individuals  for  whom,  in 
spite  or  even  by  reason  of  their  lively  compassion,  all  that 
is  connected  with  death  and  suffering  has  a  mysterious 
attraction  who,  with  inward  opposition,  and  yet  foUow" 
ing  a  dark  impulse,  occupy  themselves  with  such  things, 
or  at  least  with  pictures  and  notices  of  them.  Still,  this 
is  not  sadism,  so  long  as  no  sexual  element  enters  into 
consciousness;  and  yet  it  is  possible  that,  in  unconscious 
life,  slender  threads  connect  such  manifestations  with  the 
hidden  depths  of  sadism. 


SEXUAL  INCLIJSTATION  TOWARD  THE  OPPOSITE  SEX.  129 


(i)  Sadism  in  Woman. 

That  sadism — a  perversion,  though  often  met  with  in 
men — is  less  frequent  in  women,  may  be  easily  explained. 
In  the  first  place,  sadism,  in  which  the  need  of  subju- 
gation of  the  opposite  sex  forms  a  constituent  element, 
in  accordance  with  its  nature  represents  a  pathological 
intensification  of  the  masculine  sexual  character;  in  the 
second  place,  the  obstacles  which  oppose  the  expression 
of  this  monstrous  impulse  are,  of  course,  much  greater  for 
woman  than  for  man.  Yet  sadism  occurs  in  women,  and 
it  can  only  be  explained  by  the  primary  constituent  ele- 
ment— the  general  hyper-excitation  of  the  motor  sphere. 
Only  two  cases  have  thus  far  been  scientifically  studied. 

Case  48,  A  married  man  presented  himself  with 
numerous  scars  of  cuts  on  his  arms.  He  told  their  origin 
as  follows:  When  he  wished  to  approach  his  wife,  who 
was  young  and  somewhat  ^^nervous,''  he  first  had  to 
make  a  cut  in  his  arm.  Then  she  would  suck  the  wound 
and  during  the  act  become  violently  excited  sexually. 

This  case  recalls  the  widespread  legend  of  the  vam- 
pires, the  origin  of  which  may  perhaps  be  referred  to  such 
sadistic  facts.^ 

In  the  second  case  of  feminine  sadism,  for  which  I  am 
indebted  to  Dr.  Moll,  of  Berlin,  by  the  side  of  the  perverse 
impulse,  as  so  frequently  happens,  there  is  anaesthesia  in 
the  normal  activities  of  sexual  life;  and  there  are  also 
traces  of  masochism  (v.  infra). 

Case  49.  Mrs.  H.,  of  H.,  aged  twenty-six,  came  of  a 
family  in  which  nervous  or  mental  diseases  are  said  not  to 

^The  legend  is  especiaUy  spread  throughout  the  Balkan  penin- 
sula. Among  the  modern  Greeks  it  has  its  origin  in  the  myth  of  the 
lamicB  and  marmolykes — blood-sucking  women.  Goethe  made  use  of 
this  in  his  "  Bride  of  Corinth."  The  verses  referring  to  vampirism, 
"  suck  thy  heart's  blood,'*  etc.,  can  be  thoroughly  understood  only 
when  compared  with  their  ancient  sources. 


130 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


have  been  observed ;  but  the  patient  herself  presented  sigixs 
of  hysteria  and  neurasthenia.  Although  married  eight 
years  and  the  mother  of  a  child,  Mrs.  H.  never  had  desire 
to  perform  coitus.  Very  strictly  educated  as  a  young  girl, 
until  her  marriage  she  remained  almost  innocent  of  any 
knowledge  of  sexual  matters.  She  had  menstruated  reg- 
ularly since  her  fifteenth  year.  Essential  abnormality 
of  the  genitals  was  not  apparent.  To  the  patient  coitus  was 
not  only  not  a  pleasure,  but  even  an  unpleasant  act,  and 
repugnance  to  it  had  constantly  increased.  The  patient 
could  not  understand  how  any  one  could  call  such  an  act 
the  greatest  delight  of  love,  which  to  her  was  something  far 
sublimer  and  unconnected  with  sensual  impulse.  At  the 
same  time  it  should  be  mentioned  that  the  patient  really 
loved  her  husband.  In  kissing  him,  too,  she  experienced 
a  decided  pleasure,  which  she  could  not  exactly  describe. 
But  she  could  not  conceive  how  the  genitals  can  have 
anything  to  do  with  love.  In  other  respects  Mrs.  H.  was 
a  decidedly  intelligent  woman  of  feminine  character. 

Si  oscula  dat  conjugi,  magnam  voluptatem  percipit  in 
mordendo  eum.  Gratissimum  ei  esset  conjugem  mordere 
eo  modo  ut  sanguis  fluat.  Contenta  esset,  si  loco  coitus 
morderetur  a  conjuge  ipsseque  eum  mordere  liceret. 
Tamen  eam  poeniteret,  si  morsu  magnum  dolorem  faceret. 
(Dr.  Moll)."- 

In  history  there  are  examples  of  famous  women  who, 
to  some  extent,  had  sadistic  instincts.  These  Messalinas 
are  particularly  characterised  by  their  thirst  for  power, 
lust,  and  cruelty.  Among  them  are  Valeria  Messalina 
herself,  and  Catherine  de'  Medici,  the  instigator  of  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  whose  greatest  pleasure 
was  to  have  the  ladies  of  her  court  whipped  before  her 
eyes,  etc.^    (Confer  above.) 

^  Another  case  of  Sadismus  femlnae  is  given  by  Moll,  Srd  edit, 
of  "  Die  Contr.  Sexualempfindung,"  p.  507,  case  29.  It  is  the  exact 
counterpart  of  Masochism  in  man  and  represents  the  ideal  desire  of 
the  Masochist. 

^The  gifted  Benry  von  Kleist,  who  was  beyond  doubt  mentaHy 


MASOCHISM. 


131 


2,    Masochism.'    The  Association  of  Passively  Endured 
Cruelty  and  Violence  with  Lust. 

Masochism  is  the  opposite  of  sadism.  While  the  latter 
is  the  desire  to  cause  pain  and  use  force,  the  former  is 
the  wish  to  suffer  pain  and  be  subjected  to  force. 

By  masochism  I  understand  a  peculiar  perversion  of 
the  psychical  vita  sexualis  in  which  the  individual  affected, 
in  sexual  feeling  and  thought,  is  controlled  by  the  idea  of 
being  completely  and  unconditionally  subject  to  the  will 
of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex;  of  being  treated  by  this 
person  as  by  a  master,  humiliated  and  abused.  This  idea 
is  coloured  by  lustful  feeling;  the  masochist  lives  in 
fancies,  in  which  he  creates  situations  of  this  kind  and 
often  attempts  to  realise  them.  By  this  perversion  his 
sexual  instinct  is  often  made  more  or  less  insensible  to  the 
normal  charms  of  the  opposite  sex — incapable  of  a  normal 
vita  sexualis — psychically  impotent.    But  this  psychical 

abnormal,  gives  a  masterly  portrayal  of  complete  feminine  sadism  in 
his  "  Penthesilea."  In  scene  xxii._,  Kleist  describes  his  heroine  pur- 
suing Achilles  in  the  fire  of  love,  and  v^hen  he  is  betrayed  into  her 
hands,  she  tears  him  with  lustful,  murderous  fury  into  pieces,  and 
sets  her  dogs  on  him :  "  Tearing  the  armour  from  his  body,  she 
strikes  her  teeth  in  his  white  breast — she  and  her  dogs,  the  rivals, 
Oxus  and  Sphynx — they  on  the  right  side,  she  on  the  left;  and  as 
I  approached  blood  dripped  from  her  hands  and  mouth."  And  later, 
when  Penthesilea  becomes  satiated :  "  Did  I  kiss  him  to  death  ?  No. 
Did  I  not  kiss  him?  Torn  in  pieces?  Then  it  was  a  mistake;  kissing 
rhymes  with  biting  [in  German,  Kusse,  Bisse],  and  one  who  loves 
with  the  whole  heart  might  easily  mistake  the  one  for  the  other.-' 
In  recent  literature  we  find  the  matter  frequently  treated,  but  par- 
ticularly in  Sacher-Masoch's  novels,  of  which  mention  is  made  later 
on,  and  in  Ernest  von  Wildenhruch's  "  Brunhilde,"  Bachilde^s  "  Le 
Marquise  de  Sade,"  etc. 

^Literature,  v.  Krafft,  Neue  Forschungen  aus  dem  Gebiete  der 
Psychopathia  Sexualis,  2  Aufl. — Idem^  Arbeiten  aus  d.  Gesammt- 
gebiete  d.  Psychiatric  u.  Neuropathol.,  iv.,  p.  127-160. — Moll,  Die 
Contrare  Sexualempfindung,  3.  Aufl.,  276 — Eulenhurg,  Grenzfragen 
des  Nerven-  und  Seelenlebens,  xix.,  Sadismus  u.  Masochismus,  1902. 
Fuchs,  Therapie  der  anomalen  vita  sexualis  (Stuttgart,  Enke)  Beob. 
5  and  6. — v.  Schrenk-Notzing,  Die  Suggestions-Therapie,  1892. — 
Seydel,  Vierteljahrschr.  f.  gerichtl.  Med.,  1893,  iv.  2  ( Interessante 
Brief e  von  Masochisten ) . — Block,  Beitrage  z.  Aetiol.  d.  Psychop, 
sexualis,  2  Theil,  Dresden,  1903. 


132 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


impotence  does  not  in  any  way  depend  upon  a  horror  sexus 
alteriuSj  but  upon  the  fact  that  the  perverse  instinct  finds 
an  adequate  satisfaction  differing  from  the  normal — in 
woman,  to  be  sure,  but  not  in  coitus. 

But  cases  also  occur  in  which  with  the  perverse  im- 
pulse there  is  still  some  sensibility  to  normal  stimuli,  and 
intercourse  under  normal  conditions  takes  place.  In  other 
cases  the  impotence  is  not  purely  psychical,  but  physical, 
i.e,,  spinal;  for  this  perversion,  like  almost  all  other  per- 
versions of  the  sexual  instinct,  is  developed  only  on  the 
basis  of  a  psychopathic  and,  for  the  most  part,  hereditarily 
tainted  individuality;  and  as  a  rule  such  individuals  are 
given  to  excesses,  particularly  masturbation,  to  which  the 
difficulty  of  attaining  what  their  fancy  creates  drives  them 
again  and  again. 

I  feel  justified  in  calling  this  sexual  anomaly  ^^Maso- 
chism," because  the  author  Sacher-Masoch  frequently  made 
this  perversion,  which  up  to  his  time  was  quite  unknown 
to  the  scientific  world  as  such,  the  substratum  of  his  writ- 
ings. I  followed  thereby  the  scientific  formation  of  the 
term  ^ ^Daltonism,''  from  Dalton,  the  discoverer  of  colour- 
blindness. 

During  recent  years  facts  have  been  advanced  which 
prove  that  Sacher-Masoch  was  not  only  the  poet  of  Maso- 
chism, but  that  he  himself  was  afflicted  with  this  anomaly.^ 
Although  these  proofs  were  commimicated  to  me  without 
restriction,  I  refrain  from  giving  them  to  the  public.  I 
refute  the  accusation  that  I  have  coupled  the  name  of  a 
revered  author  with  a  perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct, 
which  has  been  made  against  me  by  some  admirers  of 
the  author  and  by  some  critics  of  my  book.  As  a  man 
Sacher-Masoch  cannot  lose  anything  in  the  estimation  of 
his  cultured  fellow-beings  simply  because  he  was  afflicted 
with  an  anomaly  of  his  sexual  feelings.  As  an  author 
he  suffered  severe  injury  so  far  as  the  influence  and  in- 
trinsic merit  of  his  work  is  concerned,  for  so  long  and 

'  Cf.  for  corroboration  Sacher-Masoch,  biography  by  ly,  Eulenburg : 
Grenzfragen  des  Nerven-  und  Seelenlebens,  1902,  xxix.,  pp.  46-57. 


MASOCHISM. 


133 


whenever  he  eliminated  his  perversion  from  his  literary 
efforts  he  was  a  gifted  writer,  and  as  such  would  have 
achieved  real  greatness  had  he  been  actuated  by  normally 
sexual  feelings.  In  this  respect  he  is  a  remarkable  exam- 
ple of  the  powerful  influence  exercised  by  the  vita  sexualis 
— be  it  in  the  good  or  evil  sense — over  the  formation  and 
direction  of  man's  mind. 

The  number  of  cases  of  undoubted  masochism  thus 
far  observed  is  very  large.  Whether  masochism  occurs 
associated  with  normal  sexual  instincts,  or  exclusively 
controls  the  individual ;  whether  or  not,  and  to  what  extent, 
the  individual  subject  to  this  perversion  strives  to  realise 
his  peculiar  fancies ;  whether  or  not,  he  has  thus  more  or 
less  diminished  his  virility — depends  upon  the  degree 
of  intensity  of  the  perversion  in  the  single  case,  upon  the 
strength  of  the  opposing  ethical  and  sesthetic  motives  and 
the  relative  power  of  the  physical  and  mental  organisation 
of  the  affected  individual.  From  the  psychopathic  point 
of  view,  the  essential  and  common  element  in  all  these 
cases  is  the  fact  that  the  sexual  instinct  is  directed  to  ideas 
of  subjugation  and  abuse  by  the  opposite  sex. 

Whatever  has  been  said  with  reference  to  the  im- 
pulsive character  (indistinctness  of  motive)  of  the  resulting 
acts  and  with  reference  to  the  original  (congenital)  nature 
of  the  perversion  in  sadism,  is  also  true  in  masochism. 

In  masochism  there  is  a  gradation  of  the  acts  from 
the  most  repulsive  and  monstrous  to  the  silliest,  regulated 
by  the  degree  of  intensity  of  the  perverse  instinct  and  the 
power  of  the  remnants  of  moral  and  aesthetic  counter- 
motives.  The  extreme  consequences  of  masochism,  how- 
ever, are  checked  by  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  and 
therefore  murder  and  serious  injury,  which  may  be  com- 
mitted in  sadistic  excitement,  have  here  in  reality,  so  far 
as  known,  no  passive  equivalent.  But  the  perverse  de- 
sires of  masochistic  individuals  may  in  imagination  attain 
these  extreme  consequences  (v,  infra,  case  50). 

Moreover,  the  acts  to  which  masochists  resort  are  in 
some  cases  performed  in  connection  with  coitus,  i.e.^  as 


134 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


preparatory  measures;  in  others,  as  substitutes  for  coitus 
when  this  is  impossible.  This,  too,  depends  only  upon  the 
condition  of  sexual  power,  which  has  been  diminished  for 
the  most  part  physically  and  mentally  by  the  activity  of 
the  sexual  ideas  in  the  perverse  direction,  and  not  upon 
the  nature  of  the  act  itself. 

(a)  The  Desire  for  Abuse  and  Humiliation  as  a  Means  of 
Sexual  Satisfaction. 

Case  50,  Mr.  Z.,  age  twenty-nine,  technologist,  came 
for  consultation  because  of  fear  of  tabes.  Father  nervous, 
died  tabetic.  Father's  sister  insane.  Several  relatives  very 
nervous  and  peculiar.  On  closer  examination  the  patient 
was  found  to  have  sexual,  spinal  and  cerebral  asthenia. 
He  presented  no  symptoms  of  tabes  dorsalis.  Questions 
concerning  abuse  of  the  sexual  organs  brought  out  a  con- 
fession of  masturbation  practised  since  youth.  In  the 
course  of  the  examination  the  following  interesting  psycho- 
sexual  anomalies  were  discovered:  At  the  age  of  five  the 
vita  sexualis  began  with  the  impulse  to  whip  himself,  as 
well  as  with  the  desire  to  see  others  whipped.  In  this 
he  never  thought  of  individuals  as  of  the  one  sex  or  the 
other.  Faute  de  mieux  he  practised  flagellation  on  him- 
self, and,  in  time,  this  induced  ejaculation.  Long  before 
this  he  had  begun  to  satisfy  himself  with  masturbation, 
and  always  during  the  act  revelled  in  imaginary  scenes 
of  whipping.  He  twice  visited  brothels  to  have  himself 
flogged  by  prostitutes.  For  this  purpose  he  chose  the  pret- 
tiest girl  he  could  find;  but  he  was  disappointed,  and  did 
not  even  have  an  erection,  to  say  nothing  of  ejaculation. 
He  recognized  that  the  flagellation  was  subsidiary,  and  that 
the  idea  of  subjection  to  the  woman's  will  was  the  impor- 
tant thing.  He  realised  this  on  the  second  trial.  When  he 
had  the  ^^thought  of  subjection"  he  was  perfectly  suc- 
cessful. In  time,  by  straining  his  imagination  with  maso- 
chistic ideas,  he  performed  coitus  without  flagellation ;  but 
he  found  little  satisfaction  in  it,  so  that  he  performed 


MASOCHISM. 


135 


sexual  intercourse  in  a  masochistic  way.  He  found  pleas- 
ure in  masochistic  scenes,  in  the  sense  of  his  original  desire 
for  flagellation,  only  when  he  was  flagellated  ad  podicew., 
or,  at  least,  only  when  he  called  up  such  a  situation  in 
imagination.  At  times  of  great  excitability  it  was  even 
suflicient  if  he  told  stories  of  such  scenes  to  a  pretty  girl. 
He  would  thus  have  an  orgasm,  and  usually  ejaculation. 

A  very  effectual  fetichistic  idea  w^as  early  associated 
with  this.  He  noticed  that  he  was  attracted  and  satisfied 
only  by  women  wearing  high  heels  and  short  jackets 
^Hungarian  fashion").  He  did  not  know  how  he 
arrived  at  this  fetichistic  idea.  Boys'  legs  with  high  heels 
also  pleased  him;  but  this  charm  was  purely  aesthetic, 
without  any  sensual  colouring;  and  he  said  he  had  never 
noticed  anything  homosexual  in  himself.  The  patient 
referred  his  fetichism  to  his  partiality  for  calves  (legs). 
He  was  charmed  by  ladies'  calves  only  when  elegant  shoes 
were  on  the  feet.  Nude  legs — feminine  nudity  in  general 
— did  not  in  the  least  affect  him  sexually.  A  subordinate 
fetichistic  idea  for  the  patient  was  the  human  ear.  It  was 
a  lustful  pleasure  for  him  to  caress  the  handsome  ears  of 
people.  With  men  this  pleasure  was  slight,  but  with 
women  it  gave  him  great  enjoyment. 

He  also  had  a  weakness  for  cats.  He  thought  them 
simply  beautiful,  and  their  movements  were  very  attractive 
to  him.  The  sight  of  a  cat  could  raise  him  from  a  feeling 
of  the  deepest  depression.  Cats  seemed  to  him  sacred;  he 
saw  something  divine  in  them!  He  did  not  know  the 
reason  for  this  idiosyncrasy. 

Of  late  he  also  frequently  had  sadistic  ideas  about 
punishing  boys.  In  these  imaginary  flagellations  both 
men  and  women  played  a  part,  but  particularly  the  latter, 
and  then  his  enjoyment  was  much  more  intense. 

The  patient  found  that,  besides  what  he  recognised  and 
felt  as  masochism,  there  was  something  else  which  he 
preferred  to  designate  ^^pageism." 

While  his  masochistic  fancies  and  acts  were  entirely  of 
a  coarse,  sensual  nature,  his  ^^pageism"  consisted  of  the 


136 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


idea  of  being  a  page  to  a  beautiful  girl.  His  conception 
was  perfectly  chaste,  but  piquant;  his  relation  to  her  that 
of  a  slave,  but  absolutely  pure — a  mere  platonic  sub- 
mission. This  revelling  in  the  idea  of  serving  such  a 
^^beautiful  creature"  as  a  page  was  coloured  by  a  pleasur- 
able feeling,  but  this  was  in  no  Avay  sexual.  He  experi- 
enced in  it  an  exquisite  feeling  of  moral  satisfaction,  in 
contrast  with  sensually  coloured  masochism,  and  therefore 
he  could  but  regard  it  as  something  of  a  different  nature. 

At  first  sight  there  was  nothing  remarkable  in  the 
patient's  appearance ;  but  his  pelvis  was  abnormally  broad, 
the  ilia  were  flat,  and  the  pelvis,  as  a  whole,  tilted  and 
decidedly  feminine.  Eyes,  neuropathic.  He  also  men- 
tioned that  he  often  had  itching  and  lustful  irritation  at 
the  anus,  and  that  there  (^^erogenous"  area)  ope  digiti,  he 
could  satisfy  himself. 

The  patient  was  troubled  about  his  future.  Help 
would  be  possible  for  him  if  he  could  but  excite  in  himself 
an  interest  in  women,  but  his  will  and  imagination  were  too 
weak  for  that. 

What  the  patient  designated  as  ^^pageism"  does  not 
differ  in  any  way  from  masochism,  as  may  be  seen  when 
it  is  compared  with  the  following  cases  of  symbolic 
masochism  and  others;  and,  further,  upon  the  considera- 
tion that  in  this  perversion  coitus  is  avoided  as  an 
inadequate  act,  and  from  the  fact  that  in  such  cases  there 
is  often  a  fantastic  exaltation  of  the  perverse  ideal : — 

Case  51.  Ideal  Masochism.  Mr.  X.,  technologist, 
twenty-six  years  old.  Mother  of  nervous  disposition ;  suf- 
fered from  neuralgia.  In  the  father's  family  a  case  of 
spinal  disease  and  one  of  psychosis.  A  brother  suffered 
from  nervousness.  Mr.  X.  had  only  slight  infantile  affec- 
tions ;  he  learned  easily  at  school,  and  developed  normally. 
He  was  of  manly  appearance,  but  rather  weakly  and  under 
medium  size.  The  descent  of  the  right  testicle  was  im- 
perfect, but  could  be  noticed  in  the  inguinal  canal.  Penis 
normally  formed,  but  rather  small. 


MASOCHISM. 


137 


At  the  age  of  five  he  felt  sexual  excitement  whilst 
swinging  on  the  cross-bar  with  legs  crossed,  and  stretched 
out  at  full  length.  He  repeated  the  exercise  several  times, 
but  forgot  about  the  sensation  until  he  grew  up  to  maturer 
age.  He  then  tried  to  induce  this  pleasurable  feeling 
by  repeating  the  exercise,  but  without  success. 

At  the  age  of  seven  he  took  part  in  a  general  fight 
between  the  pupils  of  the  school  which  he  attended,  after 
which  the  victors  rode  on  the  backs  of  the  vanquished. 
This  impressed  X.  considerably. 

He  thought  the  position  of  the  prostrate  boys  a  pleas- 
ant one,  wanted  to  put  himself  in  their  place,  imagining 
how  by  repeated  efforts  he  could  move  the  boy  on  his 
back  near  his  face  so  that  he  might  inhale  the  odour  of 
his  genitals.  These  thoughts,  coupled  with  pleasurable 
feelings,  often  recurred  to  him  afterwards,  although  they 
never  occasioned  real  sensations  of  lust;  in  fact,  he  con- 
sidered these  thoughts  sinful  and  bad,  and  sought  to 
repulse  them.  He  claimed  to  have  had  no  knowledge  at 
that  time  of  sexual  matters.  It  is  remarkable  that  the 
patient  up  to  his  twentieth  year  was  periodically  troubled 
with  eneuresis  nocturna. 

Up  to  the  time  of  puberty  these  masochistic  fancies 
to  lie  under  the  thighs  of  others,  boys  as  well  as  girls, 
recurred  periodically.  'Now  the  objects  were  chiefly 
girls,  but  these  exclusively  when  puberty  was  completed. 
Little  by  little  these  situations  gained  a  different  mean- 
ing, for  soon  the  culminating  point  was  the  consciousness 
to  be  absolutely  subject  to  the  will  and  whims  of  a  fully 
developed  girl,  coupled  with  corresponding  humiliating 
acts  and  attitudes. 

For  instance,  X.  says : — 

^^I  am  lying  on  my  back  on  the  floor.  The  mistress 
stands  over  my  head  with  one  foot  on  my  breast  or  she 
holds  my  head  between  her  feet  so  that  her  genitals  are 
directly  in  a  line  with  my  vision.  Or  she  sits  a-straddle 
on  my  chest  or  on  my  face,  using  my  body  as  a  table.  If 
I  do  not  obey  her  commands  promptly  she  locks  me  up  y 


138 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


in  a  dark  W.C.  and  leaves  the  house  to  find  pleasure 
elsewhere.  She  introduces  me  to  her  friends  as  her  slave 
and  turns  me  over  as  such  to  them  as  a  loan. 

^^She  makes  me  perform  the  lowest  menial  work,  wait 
upon  her  when  she  arises,  in  the  bath  et  inter  mictionem. 
At  times  she  uses  my  face  for  the  latter  purpose  and 
makes  me  drink  of  the  voidance." 

X.  claimed  that  he  never  practically  put  these  ideas 
into  effect  for  fear  of  not  realising  the  anticipated  pleasure. 

Once  only  he  sneaked  into  the  room  of  a  pretty  house- 
maid ut  urinam  puellce  hihat;  but  he  was  too  much  dis- 
gusted to  carry  out  the  purpose. 

He  stated  that  he  fought  in  vain  against  these  maso- 
chistic impulses,  considering  them  of  a  painful  and  dis- 
gusting nature.  They  were  still  prevalent.  He  pointed 
out  particularly  that  the  humiliation  connected  with  these 
imaginary  acts  was  the  principal  attraction,  and  that  the 
pleasure  derived  from  causing  pain  to  others  was  never 
associated  with  them. 

He  preferred  as  ^^mistress"  a  slender  maiden  of  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  with  a  pretty  face,  and  wearing  short 
light  dresses. 

The  ordinary  intercourse  with  young  women,  dancing, 
or  mixed  society,  never  impressed  him. 

With  the  period  of  puberty  these  masochistic  ideas 
were  at  times  accompanied  by  pollutions,  but  only  weak 
emotions  of  lust. 

At  one  time  the  patient  resorted  to  friction  of  the 
glans  penis,,  but  he  could  not  induce  erection,  much  less 
ejaculation,  and  instead  of  pleasure  he  produced  disagree- 
able paralytic  feelings.  This  saved  him  from  masturba- 
tion. But  after  the  age  of  twenty  he  often  experienced 
lustful  emotions  with  ejaculation  when  performing  gym- 
nastic exercises  on  the  horizontal  bar,  or  when  climbing 
poles  or  ropes.  He  never  had  a  desire  for  sexual  inter- 
course with  women  or  for  inverted  sexual  actions.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-six  a  friend  urged  him  to  coitus,  but  already 
on  the  way  to  the  house  ^ ^anxiety,  restlessness,  and  decided 


MASOCHISM. 


139 


disgust'^  crept  over  him.  He  became  so  excited,  trembled 
all  over,  and  broke  out  into  a  profuse  perspiration,  that 
he  could  not  command  an  erection.  Eepeated  attempts 
proved  complete  failures,  but  he  was  able  to  control  his 
mental  and  physical  excitement  a  little  better  than  the 
first  time. 

Libido  was  never  present.  Masochistic  imaginations 
gave  no  assistance,  because  his  mental  faculties  at  such 
times  were  "as  if  paralysed,''  and  he  "could  not  call 
up  those  intense  imaginary  representations  which  he 
found  necessary  for  an  erection.''  Thus  he  gave  up  all 
attempts  at  coitus,  partly  because  libido  was  absent, 
and  partly  on  account  of  his  utter  want  of  confidence 
in  success.  Only  now  and  then  he  satisfied  his  weak 
sexual  desires  by  the  aid  of  gymnastic  exercises.  Oc- 
casionally, however,  spontaneous  or  superinduced  maso- 
chistic fancies  (when  awake)  would  cause  erection,  but 
never  ejaculation. 

Pollutions  occurred  at  periods  of  six  weeks. 

The  patient  was  highly  intellectual,  of  refined  man- 
ners, and  a  little  neurasthenic.  He  complained  that  when 
in  society  the  feeling  obtruded  itself  constantly  that  he  was 
being  observed.  This  caused  him  worry  and  embarrass- 
ment, although  he  was  fully  aware  that  all  this  was  naught 
but  imagination.  He  loved  solitude,  for  fear  that  others 
might  find  out  his  sexual  abnormality. 

This  impotence  did  not  cause  him  pain,  for  he  had 
scarcely  any  desire.  I^Tevertheless  he  would  consider  the 
cure  of  his  vita  sexualis  a  great  boon,  since  so  much 
depended  upon  it  in  social  life,  and  he  would  be  more  self- 
possessed  and  manlier  when  among  others. 

His  present  existence  he  considered  a  misery,  and  his 
life  a  burden. 

Case  52,  X.,  man  of  letters,  aged  twenty-eight, 
tainted.  Sexually  hypersesthetic  from  childhood.  At  the 
age  of  six  he  had  dreams  of  being  whipped  ad  nates  by  a 
woman.   Upon  awakening,  intense  lustful  excitement ;  thus 


140 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


he  came  to  practise  onanism.  When  eight  years  old  he 
once  asked  the  cook  to  whip  him.  From  his  tenth  year, 
neurasthenia.  Until  his  twenty-fifth  year  he  had  dreams  of 
flagellation  or  similar  fancies  when  awake,  and  indulged 
in  onanism.  Three  years  ago  he  had  an  impulse  to  have 
himself  whipped  by  a  puella.  The  patient  was  dis- 
appointed, for  neither  erection  nor  ejaculation  occurred. 
At  twenty-seven,  another  effort,  with  the  thought  to  en- 
force erection  and  ejaculation.  This  was  finally  made 
possible  by  the  following  artifice:  While  coitus  was 
attempted  the  puella  had  to  tell  him  how  she  flogged 
mercilessly  other  impotent  men,  and  threaten  him  with 
the  same.  Besides  this,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  fancy 
that  he  was  bound,  entirely  in  the  woman's  power,  help- 
less, and  most  painfully  beaten  by  her.  Occasionally,  in 
order  to  become  potent,  it  was  necessary  to  have  himself 
actually  bound.  Thus  coitus  was  possible.  Pollutions 
were  accompanied  by  lustful  feeling  only  when  he  (infre- 
quently) dreamed  that  he  was  abused,  or  that  he  looked 
on  while  one  puella  whipped  the  other.  He  never  had  a 
real  lustful  pleasure  in  coitus.  The  only  things  in  women 
that  interested  him  were  the  hands.  Powerful  women  with 
big  fists  were  his  preference.  At  the  same  time,  his  desire 
for  flagellation  was  only  ideal ;  for  with  his  great  cutaneous 
sensitiveness  at  the  most  a  few  strokes  were  sufficient. 
Blows  from  men  were  repugnant  to  him.  He  wished  to 
marry.  From  the  impossibility  of  asking  a  decent  woman 
to  perform  flagellation  and  the  doubt  about  being  potent 
without  flagellation  sprang  his  embarrassment  and  desire 
to  recover. 

Passive  Flagellation  and  Masochism. 

Case  53.  C,  age  thirty-two,  sculptor,  hereditarily 
tainted,  marks  of  degeneration,  constitutionally  neuro- 
pathic, neurasthenic,  weakly  in  his  earlier  years.  First 
emotions  of  sexuality  at  the  age  of  seventeen  ;  it  devel- 
oped slowly  and  exclusively  in  a  hetero-sexual,  but  maso- 
chistic direction.    He  craved  for  floggings  at  the  hands 


MASOCHISM. 


141 


of  a  pretty  woman  (buif  no  hand-fetichism).  He  preferred 
women  of  haughty  and  imperious  appearance.  He  never 
sought  to  put  his  masochistic  desires  into  real  practice. 
He  could  not  explain  them. 

On  four  occasions  he  tried  coitus  but  without  success, 
He  practised  masturbation,  which  caused  severe  neuras- 
thenia, accompanied  by  phobia,  whereupon  he  sought  med- 
ical advice. 

In  three  of  the  foregoing  cases  for  the  most  part  passive 
flagellation  serves  him  that  is  subject  to  this  perversion  of 
masochism  as  an  expression  of  the  desired  situation  of 
subjection  to  the  woman.  The  same  means  is  needed  by 
a  large  number  of  masochists.  But  passive  flagellation  is 
a  process  which,  as  is  known,  has  a  tendency  to  induce 
erection  reflexly  by  irritation  of  the  nerves  of  the  buttocks.^ 
This  effect  of  flagellation  is  used  by  weakened  debauchees 
to  help  their  diminished  power;  and  this  perversity — not 
perversion — is  very  common.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to 
ascertain  in  what  relation  the  passive  flagellation  of  the 
masochists  stands  to  those  dissipated  individuals  who  are 
not  psychically  perverse,  but  physically  weakened. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  show  that  masochism  is  some- 
thing essentially  different  from  flagellation,  and  more 
comprehensive.  For  the  masochist  the  principal  thing 
is  subjection  to  the  woman;  the  pimishment  is  only  the 
expression  of  this  relation — the  most  intense  effect  of  it 
he  can  bring  upon  himself.  For  him  the  act  has  only  a 
symbolic  value,  and  is  a  means  to  the  end  of  mental  satis- 
faction of  his  peculiar  desires.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
individual  that  is  weakened  and  not  subject  to  masochism 
and  who  has  himself  flagellated,  desires  only  a  mechanical 
irritation  of  his  spinal  centre. 

Whether  in  a  given  case  it  is  simple  (reflex)  flagella- 
tion or  masochism  is  made  clear  by  the  individual's  state- 
ments, and  often  by  the  secondary  circumstances.  The 
determination  depends  upon  the  following  facts : — 

In  the  first  place,  the  impulse  to  passive  flagellation 
^Cf,  supra,  Introduction. 


142 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtJALI«. 


exists  in  the  masochist  ab  origine.  The  desire  is  felt  before 
there  has  been  any  experience  of  the  reflex  effect,  often 
first  in  dreams,  as,  for  example,  in  case  55,  v.  infra. 
Secondly,,  with  the  masochist,  as  a  rule,  flagellation  is  only 
one  of  many  and  various  punishments  which  come  into 
his  mind  as  fancies  and  are  often  realised.  In  these  other 
punishments  and  the  frequent  acts  expressing  purely  sym- 
bolic humiliations  which  occur  by  the  side  of  flagellations, 
there  can,  of  course,  be  no  thought  of  a  reflex  physical 
irritative  effect.  Thirdly,  it  is  significant  that,  in  the 
masochist  when  the  desired  flagellation  is  carried  out,  it 
need  have  no  aphrodisiac  efl'ect  at  all.  Very  often,  indeed, 
there  is  a  more  or  less  defined  disappointment;  in  fact, 
always,  if  the  masochist  is  not  successful  in  his  desire  to 
create  by  means  of  the  prearranged  programme  the  illu- 
sion of  the  desired  situation  (to  be  in  the  woman's  power), 
so  that  the  woman  ordered  to  carry  out  the  act  seems  to 
be  nothing  more  than  the  executive  agent  of  his  own  will. 
In  reference  to  this  important  point,  compare  the  three 
foregoing  cases  and  case  58. 

Between  masochism  and  simple  (reflex)  flagellation, 
there  is  a  relation  somewhat  analogous  to  that  existing 
between  inverted  sexual  instinct  and  acquired  pederasty. 
It  does  not  lessen  the  value  of  this  opinion  that,  in  the 
masochist,  the  flagellation  may  also  have  the  known  reflex 
effect ;  or  that  a  whipping  received  in  childhood  may  have 
aroused  lust  for  the  first  time,  and  thus  simultaneously 
excited  the  latent  masochistically  constituted  viia  sexualis. 
In  this  event,  the  case  must  be  characterised  by  the  con- 
ditions mentioned  above  under  the  heads  of  ''secondly'* 
and  ''thirdly j"^^  in  order  to  be  masochistic.  If  the  details 
of  the  origin  of  the  case  are  not  known,  other  circum- 
stances, such  as  those  mentioned  above  under  ''secondly' 
would  make  it  clearly  masochistic.  This  is  illustrated  in 
the  following  two  cases : — 

Case  54.  A  patient  of  Tarnowshy's  had  a  person  in 
Jiis  confidence  rent  a  house  during  his  attacks,  and  instruct 


MASOCHISM. 


143 


its  personnel  (three  prostitutes)  in  what  was  to  be  done 
with  him.  Whenever  he  came  there  he  was  undressed, 
manustuprated  and  flagellated  as  ordered.  He  pretended 
to  offer  resistance,  and  begged  for  mercy;  then,  as 
ordered,  he  was  allowed  to  eat  and  sleep.  But  in  spite 
of  protest  he  was  kept  there,  and  beaten  if  he  did  not  sub- 
mit. Thus  the  affair  would  go  on  for  some  days.  When 
the  attack  was  over  he  was  dismissed,  and  he  returned  to 
his  wife  and  children,  who  had  no  suspicion  of  his  disease. 
The  attacks  occurred  once  or  twice  a  year  {Tarnowsky, 
op.  cit.) 

Case  55.  X.,  aged  thirty-four,  greatly  predisposed, 
suffered  with  antipathic  sexual  instinct.  For  various  rea- 
sons he  had  no  opportunity  to  satisfy  himself  with  men, 
in  spite  of  great  sexual  desire.  Occasionally  he  dreamed 
that  a  woman  whipped  him,  and  then  had  a  pollution. 

Through  this  dream  he  came  to  have  prostitutes  beat 
him  as  a  substitute  for  love  with  men.  Occasionally  he 
would  obtain  a  prostitute,  undress  himself  completely 
(while  she  was  not  to  take  off  her  chemise),  and  have 
her  tread  upon  him,  whip  and  beat  him.  Qua  re  summa 
libidine  affectus  pedem  femince  larnbit  quod  solum  eum 
libidinosum  facere  potest:  turn  ejaculationem  assequitur. 
Then  disgust  at  the  morally  debasing  situation  occurred, 
and  he  retired  as  quickly  as  possible. 

Case  56.  A  gentleman  of  high  standing,  age  twenty- 
eight  years,  would  go  to  a  house  of  prostitution  once  a 
month.  He  always  announced  his  coming,  with  a  note 
reading  thus :  "Dear  Peggy,  I  shall  be  with  you  to-mor- 
row evening  between  8  and  9  o^clock.  Whip  and  knout! 
Kindest  regards.    .  . 

He  always  arrived  at  the  appointed  time  carrying  a 
whip,  a  knout  and  leather  straps.  After  undressing  he 
had  himself  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  then  flogged  by  the 
girl  on  the  soles  of  his  feet,  his  calves  and  buttocks  until 
ejaculation  ensued.    Other  desires  or  wishes  he  never  ex- 


144 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


pressed.  The  fact  that  he  disdained  coitus  seems  to  point 
to  the  fact  that  he  resorted  to  this  m^thod  simply  as  a 
means  to  gratify  his  masochistic  inclination  and  not  as  a 
ruse  to  restore  potency. 

Cases  occur,  however,  in  which  passive  flagellation 
alone  constitutes  the  entire  content  of  the  masochistic 
fancies,  without  other  ideas  of  humiliation,  etc.,  and 
without  well-defined  consciousness  of  the  real  nature  of 
this  expression  of  submission.  Such  cases  are  difficult  to 
differentiate  from  those  of  simple  reflex  flagellation.  A 
knowledge  of  the  primary  origin  of  the  desire,  before  any 
experience  of  reflex  stimuli  (v.  supra,  under  ''firsf^)^  is  the 
only  thing  that  renders  the  differential  diagnosis  certain, 
if  weighed  with  the  circumstance  that  genuine  masochists 
are  perversa  from  early  youth,  and  that  the  realisation  of 
their  desires  is  scarcely  ever  accomplished  or  proves  a 
disappointment  (v.  supra,  under  ''thirdly'')  ;  for  the  whole 
thing  chiefly  belongs  to  the  realm  of  imagination. 

The  following  is  a  case  of  typical  masochism  in  which 
the  whole  circle  of  ideas  peculiar  to  this  perversion 
appears  completely  developed.  This  case,  in  which  there 
is  a  detailed  personal  description  of  the  whole  psychical 
state,  is  different  from  case  49  in  the  11th  edition  only  in 
that  there  is  here  no  thought  of  a  realisation  of  the  perverse 
fancies,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  perversion  of  the 
vita  sexualisj,  normal  stimuli  are  so  far  effectual  that  sexual 
intercourse  is  really  possible  under  normal  conditions. 

Case  57.  ^^I  am  thirty-five  years  old,  mentally  and 
physically  normal.  Among  all  my  relatives,  in  the  direct 
as  well  as  in  the  lateral  line,  I  know  of  no  case  of  mental 
disorder.  My  father,  who  at  my  birth  was  thirty  years 
old,  as  far  as  I  know  had  a  preference  for  voluptuous,  large 
women. 

^^Even  in  my  early  childhood  I  loved  to  revel  in  ideas 
about  the  absolute  mastery  of  one  man  over  others.  The 
thought  of  slavery  had  something  exciting  in  it  for  me, 
alike  whether  from  the  standpoint  of  master  or  servant. 


MASOCHISM* 


145 


That  one  man  could  possess,  sell  or  whip  another,  caused 
me  intense  excitement ;  and  in  reading  ^TJncle  Tom's  Cabin' 
(which  I  read  at  about  the  beginning  of  puberty)  I  had 
erections.  Particularly  exciting  for  me  was  the  thought 
of  a  man  being  hitched  to  a  waggon  in  which  another 
man  sat  with  a  whip,  driving  and  whipping  him.  Until 
my  twentieth  year  these  ideas  were  purely  objective  and 
sexless — i.e.,  the  one  in  subjugation  in  my  fancy  was 
another  (not  myself),  and  the  master  was  not  necessarily  a 
woman.  These  ideas  were,  therefore,  without  effect  on  my 
sexual  desires — i.e.^  on  the  way  in  which  they  took  practi- 
cal shape.  Although  these  ideas  caused  erections,  yet  I 
have  never  masturbated  in  my  life,  and  from  my  nine- 
teenth year  I  had  coitus  without  the  help  of  these  ideas: 
and  without  any  relation  to  them.  I  always  had  a  great 
preference  for  elderly,  voluptuous,  large  women,  though  I 
did  not  scorn  younger  ones. 

^^After  my  twenty-first  year  my  ideas  became  objective, 
and  it  became  an  essential  thing  that  the  ^mistress' 
should  be  a  woman  over  forty  years  old,  tall  and  power- 
ful. From  this  time  I  was  always  in  my  fancies  the  subject; 
the  ^mistress'  was  a  rough  woman,  who  made  use  of 
me  in  every  way,  also  sexually;  who  harnessed  me  to 
a  carriage  and  made  me  take  her  for  a  drive,  whom  I 
must  follow  like  a  dog,  at  whose  feet  I  must  lie  naked 
and  be  punished — i.e.^,  whipped — by  her.  This  was  the 
constant  element  in  my  ideas,  around  which  all  others 
were  grouped.  In  these  fancies  I  always  found  endless 
pleasurable  comfort  which  caused  erection,  but  never 
ejaculation.  As  a  result  of  the  induced  sexual  excitement, 
I  would  immediately  seek  a  woman,  preferably  one  corre- 
sponding exteriorly  with  my  ideal,  and  have  coitus  with 
her  without  any  actual  aid  of  my  fancies,  and  some- 
times also  without  any  thought  of  them  during  the  act. 
I  had,  however,  also  inclination  toward  women  of  a 
different  kind,  and  had  coitus  with  them  without  being 
impelled  to  it  by  my  fancy. 

^^Notwithstanding  all  this,  my  life  was  not  exceedingly 


146 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


abnormal  sexually;  yet  these  ideas  were  certain  to  occur 
periodically,  and  they  have  remained  essentially  un- 
changed. With  growing  sexual  desire,  the  intervals 
constantly  grew  shorter.  At  the  present  time  the  attacks 
come  every  two  or  three  weeks.  If  I  previously  were  to 
have  coitus,  the  occurrence  of  the  fancies  would,  perhaps, 
be  postponed.  I  have  never  attempted  to  realise  my  very 
definite  and  characteristic  ideas — i,e,j,  to  connect  them 
with  the  world  without  me — ^but  I  have  contented  myself 
with  revelling  in  the  thoughts,  because  I  was  convinced 
that  my  ideal  would  not  allow  even  an  approach  to 
realisation.  The  thought  of  a  comedy  with  paid  pros- 
titutes always  seemed  so  silly  and  purposeless,  for  a  per- 
son  hired  by  me  could  never  take  the  place  of  my  imagina- 
tion of  a  ^cruel  mistress'.  I  doubt  whether  there  are  sadis- 
tically constituted  women  like  Sacher-Masoch's  heroines. 
But,  if  there  were  such  women,  and  I  had  the  fortune  (  !) 
to  find  one,  still,  in  a  world  of  reality,  intercourse  with  her 
would  ever  seem  only  a  farce  to  me.  Indeed,  I  can  say 
that,  were  I  to  become  the  slave  of  a  Messalina,  I  believe 
that  owing  to  the  other  necessary  renunciations  my  desired 
manner  of  life  would  soon  pall  on  me,  and  in  my  lucid 
intervals  I  should  make  every  effort  to  obtain  my  freedom 
at  all  hazards. 

^^Yet  I  have  found  a  way  in  which  to  induce,  in  a 
certain  sense,  a  realisation.  After  my  sexual  desire  has 
been  intensely  excited  by  revelling  in  my  fancy,  I  go  to  a 
prostitute  and  there  call  up  before  my  mind's  eye  with 
great  intensity  some  scene  of  the  kind  mentioned,  in 
which  I  play  the  principal  role.  After  thinking  of  such 
a  situation  for  about  half  an  hour,  with  a  constantly  re- 
sulting erection,  I  perform  coitus  with  increased  lustful 
pleasure  and  strong  ejaculation.  After  the  latter,  the 
vision  fades  away.  Ashamed,  I  depart  as  quickly  as 
possible,  and  try  not  to  think  of  the  affair.  Then  for 
about  two  weeks  I  have  no  more  such  ideas !  indeed,  after 
a  particularly  satisfactory  coitus,  it  may  happen  that  until 
the  next  attack  I  have  not  even  any  sympathy  whatever 


MASOCHISM. 


147 


ivith  masochistic  ideas.  But  the  next  attack  is  sure  to 
come  sooner  or  later.  I  must,  however,  state  that  I  also 
have  coitus  without  being  prepared  by  such  ideas,  especi- 
ally, too,  with  women  that  are  acquainted  with  me  and  my 
position,  and  in  whose  presence  I  abhor  such  fancies. 
Under  the  latter  circumstances j  however^  I  am  not  always 
potent,  while,  with  masochistic  ideas,  my  virility  is  perfect. 
It  does  not  seem  superfluous  to  add  that  otherwise  in  my 
thought  and  feeling  I  am  very  sesthetic,  and  despise  any- 
thing like  maltreatment  of  a  human  being.  Finally,  I  will 
not  leave  unmentioned  the  fact  that  the  form  of  address  is 
of  importance.  In  my  fancies  it  is  essential  that  the  ^mis- 
tress' address  me  in  the  second  person  (Du),  while  I 
must  address  her  in  the  third  (Sie).  This  circumstance 
of  being  thus  familiarly  addressed  (Du)  by  a  person  so  in- 
clined, as  the  expression  of  absolute  mastery,  has  from 
my  youth  given  me  lustful  pleasure,  and  does  to-day. 

"I  had  the  fortune  to  find  a  wife  who  is  in  everything, 
but  especially  sexually,  attractive  to  me;  though,  as  I 
scarcely  need  say,  she  in  no  way  resembles  my  masochistic 
ideals.  She  is  gentle,  but  voluptuous,  for  without  the 
latter  characteristic  I  cannot  conceive  such  a  thing  as 
sexual  charm.  The  first  few  months  of  married  life  were 
normal  sexually;  the  masochistic  attacks  did  not  occur, 
and  I  had  almost  lost  all  thought  of  masochism.  Then 
came  the  first  confinement  and  the  necessary  abstinence. 
Punctually,  then,  with  the  occurrence  of  libido  came  the 
masochistic  fancies  again,  which,  in  spite  of  my  great  love 
for  my  wife,  necessitated  coitus  with  another,  with  the 
accompaniment  of  masochistic  ideas.  It  is  here  worthy 
of  note  that  coitus  maritalis,  which  was  later  resumed,  did 
not  prove  sufiicient  to  banish  the  masochistic  ideas,  as 
masochistic  coitus  always  does.  As  for  the  essential 
element  in  masochism,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  ideas 
— i,e,,  the  mental  element — are  the  end  and  aim. 

"If  the  realisation  of  the  masochistic  ideas  (i.e.  ,  passive 
flagellation,  etc.)  be  the  desired  end,  then  it  is  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  masochists  never 


148 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


attempt  realisation;  or  when  this  is  attempted  great 
disappointment  occurs,  or  at  any  rate  the  desired  satis- 
faction is  not  obtained. 

^Tinally,  I  should  mention  that,  according  to  my 
experience,  the  number  of  masochists,  especially  in  big 
cities,  seems  to  be  quite  large.  The  only  sources  of  such 
information  are — since  men  do  not  reveal  these  things — 
statements  by  prostitutes,  and  since  they  agree  on  the 
essential  points,  certain  facts  may  be  assumed  as  proved. 

^'Thus  there  is  the  fact  that  every  experienced  prosti- 
tute keeps  some  suitable  instrument  (usually  a  whip)  for 
flagellation,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  are 
men  who  have  themselves  whipped  simply  to  increase 
their  sexual  pleasure.  These,  in  contrast  with  masochists, 
regard  flagellation  as  a  means  to  an  end. 

^^On  the  other  hand,  almost  all  prostitutes  agree  thafc 
there  are  many  men  who  like  to  play  ^slave' — i,e.^  like 
to  be  so  called,  and  have  themselves  scolded  and  trod  upon 
and  beaten.  As  has  been  said,  the  number  of  masochists 
is  larger  than  has  yet  been  dreamed. 

"As  you  can  imagine,  your  chapter  on  this  subject 
has  made  a  deep  impression  on  me.  I  should  like  to 
have  faith  in  a  cure,  in  a  logical  cure,  so  to  speak,  in 
accordance  with  the  motto:  ^Tout  comprendre  c'est  tout 
guerir'. 

"Of  course  the  word  cure  is  to  be  taken  with  some 
limitation,  and  there  must  be  a  distinction  made  between 
general  feelings  and  concrete  ideas.  The  former  can  never 
be  removed;  they  come  like  a  streak  of  lightning,  are 
there,  and  one  does  not  know  whence  or  how. 

"But  the  practice  of  masochism  in  imagination  by 
means  of  concrete  associated  ideas  can  be  avoided,  or  at 
least  restricted. 

"Now  the  thing  is  changed.  I  say  to  myself:  What! 
you  busy  your  mind  with  things  which  not  only  the 
aesthetic  sense  of  others,  but  also  your  own,  disapproves? 
You  regard  that  as  beautiful  and  desirable  which,  in  your 
own  judgment,  is  at  once  ugly,  coarse,  silly,  and  impossi- 


MASOCHISM, 


149 


ble?  You  long  for  a  situation  which  in  reality  you  can 
never  obtain?  This  opposing  idea  has  an  immediate  in- 
hibitory and  undeceiving  effect,  and  breaks  the  point  of  the 
fancy.  In  fact,  since  reading  your  book  (early  this  year) 
I  have  actually  not  revelled  in  my  fancy,  though  the 
masochistic  tendencies  have  recurred  at  regular  intervals. 

^^I  must  also  confess  that,  in  spite  of  its  marked  patho- 
logical character,  masochism  is  not  only  incapable  of 
destroying  my  pleasure  in  life,  but  it  does  not  in  the  least 
affect  my  outward  life.  When  not  in  a  masochistic  state, 
as  far  as  feeling  and  action  are  concerned,  I  am  a  perfectly 
normal  man.  During  the  activity  of  the  masochistic 
tendencies  there  is,  of  course,  a  great  revolution  in  my 
feeling,  but  my  outward  manner  of  life  suffers  no  change ; 
I  have  a  calling  that  makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  move 
much  in  public,  and  I  pursue  it  in  the  masochistic  con- 
dition as  well  as  ever.'' 

The  author  of  the  foregoing  lines  also  sends  me  the 
following  notes : — 

1.  ^^Masochism,  according  to  my  experience,  is  under 
all  circumstances  congenital,  and  never  acquired  by  the 
individual.  /  know  positively  that  I  was  never  spanked; 
that  my  masochistic  ideas  were  manifested  from  my  earliest 
youth,  and  that,  as  long  as  I  have  been  capable  of  think- 
ing, I  have  had  such  thoughts.  If  the  origin  of  them  had 
been  the  result  of  a  particular  event,  especially  of  a 
beating,  I  should  certainly  not  have  forgotten  it.  It  is 
characteristic  that  the  ideas  were  present  before  there  was 
any  libido.  At  that  time  the  ideas  were  absolutely  sexless. 
I  remember  that  when  a  boy  it  affected  (not  to  say  ex- 
cited) me  intensely  when  an  older  boy  addressed  me  in  the 
second  person  {Du)  while  I  spoke  to  him  in  the  third 
(Sie).  I  would  keep  up  a  conversation  with  him  and  have 
this  exchange  of  address  (Du  and  Sie)  take  place  as  often 
as  possible.  Later,  when  I  had  become  more  mature 
sexually,  such  things  affected  me  only  when  they  occurred 
with  a  woman,  and  one  relatively  older  than  myself. 


150 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAXIS. 


II.  "Physically  and  mentally  I  am  in  all  respects  mas- 
culine. I  have  a  superabundant  growth  of  beard,  and  my 
whole  body  is  very  hairy.  In  my  relations  to  the  female 
sex  that  are  not  masochistic  the  dominating  position  of 
the  man  is  an  indispensable  condition,  and  any  attempt  to 
change  it  would  meet  with  my  energetic  opposition.  I 
am  energetic,  if  not  over-courageous;  but  the  want  of 
courage  is  not  manifest  when  my  pride  is  injured.  I  am 
not  sensitive  to  events  in  nature  (thimder  storms,  storms 
at  sea,  etc.).^ 

"Again,  my  masochistic  tendencies  have  nothing  femi- 
nine or  effeminate  about  them  (?).  To  be  sure,  in  these, 
the  inclination  to  be  sought  and  desired  by  the  woman  is 
dominant;  but  the  general  relation  desired  with  her  is 
not  that  in  which  a  woman  stands  to  a  man,  but  that  of 
the  slave  to  the  master,  the  domestic  animal  to  its  owner. 
If  one  regards  the  ultimate  aim  of  masochism  without 
prejudice,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  its  ideal  is  the 
position  of  a  dog  or  horse.  Both  are  owned  by  masters 
and  punished  by  them,  and  the  masters  are  responsible  to 
no  one.  Just  this  unlimited  power  of  life  and  death,  as 
exercised  over  slaves  and  domestic  animals,  is  the  aim  and 
end  of  all  masochistic  ideas. 

III.  "The  foundation  of  all  masochistic  ideas  is  libido, 
and  as  this  ebbs  and  flows,  so  do  the  masochistic  fancies. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  soon  as  the  ideas  are  present,  they 
greatly  intensify  the  libido,  I  am  not  by  nature  exces- 
sively sensual.  However,  when  the  masochistic  ideas 
occur  I  am  impelled  to  coitus  at  any  cost  (for  the  most 
part  I  am  driven  to  the  lowest  women)  ;  and  if  these 
impulses  are  not  soon  obeyed,  libido  soon  becomes  almost 
satyriasis.  One  is  almost  justified  in  looking  upon  this  as 
a  circulus  vitiosus. 

''Libido  occurs  either  in  the  course  of  time  or  as  the 
result  of  especial  excitement  (also  of  a  kind  that  is  not 

^  This  difference  of  courage  in  the  face  of  events  in  nature^  on 
the  one  hand^  and  in  the  face  of  conflict  with  wiU-power,  on  the 
other,  is  certainly  remarkable,  even  though  it  is  the  only  indication 
of  effeminacy  apparent  in  this  case. 


MASOCHISM. 


151 


masochistic — e.g.y  kissing).  In  spite  of  its  manner  of  ori- 
gin, this  libido^  by  virtue  of  the  masochistic  ideas  it  engen- 
dersj  is  soon  transformed  into  a  masochistic  and  impure 
libido. 

^^Moreover,  there  is  no  doubt  that  external  accidental 
impressions,  particularly  loitering  in  the  streets  of  a 
large  city,  greatly  intensify  the  desire.  The  sight  of 
beautiful  and  imposing  female  forms,  in  nature  as  well  as 
in  art,  is  exciting.  For  those  subject  to  masochism — at 
least  during  the  attacks — the  whole  external  world  be- 
comes masochistic.  The  box  on  the  ear  administered  by 
the  teacher  to  the  pupil  and  the  crack  of  the  driver's  whip 
make  deep  impressions  on  the  masochist,  while  they  leave 
him  indifferent  or  annoy  him  when  he  is  not  in  the  maso- 
chistic state. 

IV.  ^^In  reading  Sacher-Masoch  it  struck  me  that  in 
masochists  now  and  then  there  was  also  an  undercurrent 
of  sadistic  feeling.  I  have  now  and  then  discovered  in 
myself  sporadic  feelings  of  sadism.  I  must  remark,  how- 
ever, that  the  sadistic  feelings  are  not  so  marked  as  the 
masochistic.  Apart  from  the  fact  that  they  appear  but 
seldom,  and  then  only  in  a  manner  as  accessories,  these 
sadistic  fancies  never  leave  the  sphere  of  abstract  feeling, 
and,  above  all,  never  take  the  form  of  concrete,  connected 
ideas.  The  effect  on  libido^  however,  is  the  same  with 
both.'' 

If  this  case  is  remarkable  on  account  of  the  complete:^ 
development  of  the  psychical  state  which  constitutes 
masochism,  the  following  is  noteworthy  because  of  the 
great  extravagance  of  the  acts  resulting  from  perversion. 
The  case  is  also  particularly  suited  to  make  clear  the 
reason  for  the  subjection  and  humiliation  at  the  hands  of 
the  woman,  and  the  peculiar  sexual  colouring  of  the 
resulting  situations : — 

Case  58.  Mr.  Z.,  official,  aged  fifty;  tall,  muscular, 
healthy.   Said  to  come  of  healthy  parentage,  but  his  father 


152 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


was  thirty  years  older  than  his  mother.  A  sister,  two 
years  older  than  Z.,  suffered  with  delusions  of  persecu- 
tion. There  was  nothing  remarkable  in  Z.'s  external  ap- 
pearance. Skeleton  entirely  masculine;  abundant  beard, 
but  no  hair  on  trunk.  He  characterised  himself  as  a  man 
of  sanguine  temperament,  who  could  not  refuse  others  any- 
thing; though  irascible  and  quick-tempered,  he  was  quick 
to  regret  outbursts. 

Z.  claimed  that  he  had  never  masturbated.  From  his 
youth  there  had  been  nightly  pollutions,  in  which  girls 
played  part,  but  the  sexual  act  never.  For  example,  he 
dreamed  that  a  pleasing  woman  lay  heavily  on  him,  or  that 
as  he  lay  sleeping  on  the  grass  she  playfully  walked  up  his 
back.  Z.  had  always  been  averse  to  coitus  with  women. 
This  act  seemed  bestial  to  him.  ^Nevertheless,  he  was 
drawn  to  women.  It  was  only  in  the  society  of  beautiful 
women  and  girls  that  he  felt  well  and  in  his  place.  He 
was  very  gallant,  without  being  forward. 

A  voluptuous  woman  of  beautiful  form,  and  particu- 
larly with  a  pretty  foot,  when  seated,  had  the  power  to 
thrown  him  into  intense  excitement.  He  was  impelled  to 
offer  himself  as  a  chair,  in  order  ''to  support  such  grand 
beauty".  A  kick,  a  box  on  the  ear  from  her,  would  be 
heaven  to  him.  He  had  a  horror  at  the  thought  of  coitus 
with  her.  He  felt  the  need  to  serve  woman.  He  thought 
how  much  ladies  liked  to  ride.  He  revelled  in  the  thought 
how  fine  it  would  be  to  be  wearied  by  the  burden  of  a 
beautiful  woman  in  order  to  give  her  pleasure.  He  painted 
the  situation  in  all  colours;  thought  of  the  beautiful  foot 
armed  with  spurs,  the  beautiful  calves,  the  soft,  full 
thighs.  Every  beautiful  mature  woman,  every  pretty 
female  foot,  always  excited  his  imagination;  but  he  never 
betrayed  the  peculiar  feelings  that  seemed  to  him  abnor- 
mal, and  was  able  to  control  himself.  But  he  felt  no  need 
to  fight  against  them;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  have 
grieved  him  to  be  compelled  to  give  up  the  feelings  that 
had  become  so  dear  to  him. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-two  Z.  happened  to  make  the 


MASOCHISM. 


153 


acquaintance  of  an  attractive  woman,  aged  twenty-seven, 
who  had  been  separated  from  her  husband,  and  whom 
he  found  in  need.  He  took  her  and  worked  for  her  with- 
out any  selfish  motive,  for  months.  One  evening  she 
impatiently  demanded  sexual  satisfaction  from  him,  and 
almost  used  violence.  Coitus  was  successful.  Z.  took 
the  woman,  lived  with  her,  and  indulged  in  coitus  moder- 
ately, but  coitus  was  more  a  burden  than  a  pleasure; 
erections  became  weak,  and  he  could  no  longer  satisfy  the 
woman.  She  finally  declared  that  she  would  not  have 
intercourse  with  him,  because  he  only  excited  without 
satisfying  her.  Though  he  loved  the  woman  very  much, 
he  could  not  give  up  his  peculiar  fancies.  After  this  he 
lived  with  her  only  in  friendly  relations,  and  deeply  re- 
gretted that  he  could  not  serve  her  in  the  way  she  desired. 

Fear  of  how  she  would  receive  his  propositions  and  a 
feeling  of  shame  kept  him  from  confessing.  He  found  a 
substitute  in  his  dreams.  Thus,  for  example,  he  dreamed 
that  he  was  a  proud,  fiery  steed,  ridden  by  a  beautiful 
lady.  He  felt  her  weight,  the  bit  he  had  to  obey,  the 
pressure  of  the  thighs  on  his  flanks;  he  heard  her 
beautiful,  joyous  voice.  The  exertion  threw  him  into  a 
perspiration,  the  touch  of  the  spurs  did  the  rest,  and 
always  induced  pollution  with  great  lustful  pleasure. 
Under  the  influence  of  such  dreams,  seven  years  ago  Z. 
overcame  his  reluctance,  in  order  to  experience  such 
things  in  reality.  He  was  successful  in  creating  a  suitable 
opportunity.  He  speaks  of  it  as  follows:  ^^I  knew  how 
to  arrange  it  so  that  on  an  occasion  she  would  of  her  own 
will  seat  herself  on  my  back.  Then  I  endeavoured  to 
make  this  situation  as  pleasant  as  possible,  and  easily 
arranged  it  so  that  on  the  next  occasion  she  said  spon- 
taneously, ^Come,  give  me  a  little  ride!'  Being  of  tall 
stature,  both  hands  braced  on  a  chair,  I  made  my  back 
horizontal,  and  she  mounted  astride,  after  the  manner  of 
a  man.  I  then  did  the  best  I  could  to  imitate  the  move- 
ments of  a  horse,  and  loved  to  have  her  treat  me  like 
a  horse^  without  consideration.    She  could  beat,  priok, 


154 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


scold,  or  caress  me,  just  as  she  felt  inclined.  I  could 
carry  on  my  back  persons  weighing  from  sixty  to  eighty 
kilos,  for  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  without  inter- 
ruption. At  the  end  of  this  time  I  usually  asked  for  a 
rest.  During  this  the  intercourse  between  the  mistress 
and  me  was  perfectly  harmless,  and  without  any  relation 
to  what  had  preceded.  After  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
I  was  rested  and  placed  myself  again  at  the  disposal  of 
the  mistress.  When  time  and  circumstances  allowed  it, 
I  did  this  three  or  four  times  in  succession.  It  sometimes 
happened  that  I  practised  it  both  in  the  morning  and 
afternoon.  After  it  I  never  felt  weary  or  had  uncomfort- 
able feelings,  but  on  such  days  I  had  very  little  appetite. 
When  possible,  I  liked  best  to  bare  my  trunk,  that  I  might 
feel  the  riding-whip  more  sharply.  The  mistress  had  to 
be  decent.  I  liked  her  best  in  pretty  shoes  and  stockings, 
with  short  closed  drawers  reaching  to  the  knee;  with  the 
upper  portion  of  her  person  completely  dressed,  and  with 
hat  and  gloves." 

Mr.  Z.  further  said  he  had  not  performed  coitus  in 
seven  years,  but  he  thought  he  was  potent.  The  riding  was 
a  perfect  substitute  for  that  ^^bestial  act,"  even  when 
ejaculation  was  not  induced. 

For  eight  months  Z.  had  determined  to  give  up  his 
masochistic  play,  and  had  kept  his  determination.  But 
he  thought  that  if  a  woman  only  moderately  pretty  were  to 
address  him  directly  and  say,  ^^Come,  I  want  to  ride  you," 
he  would  not  be  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  tempta- 
tion. Z.  wished  to  know  whether  his  abnormality  was 
curable,  whether  he  was  unworthy  as  a  vicious  man,  or  an 
invalid  deserving  pity. 

Even  in  the  foregoing  series  of  cases,  with  other  things, 
the  act  of  being  walked  upon  has  played  a  role  as  a  means 
of  expressing  the  masochistic  situations  of  humiliation  and 
pain.  The  exclusive  and  most  extensive  use  of  this  means 
for  perverse  excitation  and  satisfaction,  which  has  caused 
me  to  arrange  a  special  group,  because  it  forms  the  tran- 


MASOCHISM. 


165 


sition  to  anotlier  kind  of  perversion  (vide  infra  (&),  is 
shown  in  the  following  classical  case  of  masochism,  re- 
ported by  Hammond  (op.  cit.^  p.  28)  from  an  observation 
by  Dr.  Cox^  of  Colorado : — 

Case  59.  X.^  a  model  husband,  very  moral,  the  father 
of  several  children,  had  times — i,e,_,  attacks — in  which  he 
visited  brothels,  chose  two  or  three  of  the  largest  girls, 
and  shut  himself  up  with  them.  He  bared  the  upper 
portion  of  his  body,  lay  down  on  the  floor,  crossed  his 
hands  on  his  abdomen,  closed  his  eyes,  and  then  had  the 
girls  walk  over  his  naked  breast,  neck  and  face,  urging 
them  at  every  step  to  press  hard  on  his  flesh  with  the 
heels  of  their  shoes.  Sometimes  he  w^anted  a  heavier  girl, 
or  some  other  act  still  more  cruel  than  this  procedure. 
After  two  or  three  hours  he  had  enough.  He  paid 
the  girls  with  wine  and  money,  rubbed  his  blue  bruises, 
dressed  himself,  paid  his  bill,  and  went  back  to  his  busi- 
ness, only  to  give  himself  the  same  strange  pleasure  again 
after  a  few  weeks. 

Occasionally  it  happened  that  he  had  one  of  the  girls 
stand  on  his  breast,  and  the  others  then  turn  her  around 
until  his  skin  was  torn  and  bleeding  from  the  turning  of  the 
heels  of  her  shoes.  Frequently  one  of  the  girls  had  to 
stand  on  him  in  such  a  way  that  one  shoe  was  over  the  eyes, 
with  its  heel  pressing  on  one  eye,  while  the  other  shoe 
rested  across  his  neck.  In  this  position  he  endured  the 
pressure  of  a  person  weighing  about  150  pounds  for  four  or 
five  minutes.  The  author  speaks  of  dozens  of  similar  cases 
that  are  known  to  him.  Hammond  presumes,  with  reason, 
that  this  man  had  become  impotent  for  intercourse  with 
women ;  that  in  this  strange  procedure  he  found  an  equiva- 
lent for  coitus ;  and  that,  when  the  heels  drew  blood,  he  had 
pleasant  sexual  feelings,  accompanied  by  ejaculations. 

Case  60.    X.,  gentleman  belonging  to  upper  class 

^"Transactions  of  the  Colorado  State  Medical  Society,"  quoted 
in  the  "Alienist  and  Neurologist,"  April,  1883,  p.  345. 


156 


rSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


of  society ;  age  sixty-six ;  father  hypersexual ;  two  brothers 
said  to  be  masochists.  X.  claimed  that  his  masochism  dates 
back  to  early  childhood.  At  the  age  of  five  he  asked  little 
girls  to  undress  him  and  spank  his  naked  bottom.  Later 
on  he  arranged  with  other  boys  or  girls  in  playing  teacher 
with  him  to  flog  him.  With  the  age  of  fifteen  he  began 
to  imagine  that  girls  ambushed  and  then  beat  him.  At 
that  time  he  had  no  idea  as  yet  of  the  sexual  meaning  of 
such  proceedings,  in  fact  he  was  still  unaware  of  the  vHa 
sexualis.  His  craving  for  being  beaten  by  women  stead- 
ily increased.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  learned  how  to 
satisfy  it  and  had  the  first  pollution  during  the  act.  When 
nineteen  first  coitus  with  complete  satisfaction  and  potency 
and  without  masochistic  representations.  IsTormal  sexual 
intercourse  until  he  was  twenty-one,  when  a  girl  suggested 
a  masochistic  scene.  He  accepted,  and  from  that  time 
never  had  coitus  without  a  masochistic  adventure  pre- 
ceding it.  He  soon  recognized  the  fact  that  the  stimulus 
proceeded  from  the  idea  to  be  in  the  power  of  a  woman 
rather  than  from  the  act  of  violence  itself.  He  succeeded 
in  making  a  happy  marriage,  free  from  masochistic  ideas, 
but  admitted  that  from  time  to  time  he  had  to  seek  relief 
in  some  masochistic  act  with  a  girl,  even  though  he  then 
had  grand  children.  The  masochistic  scene  was  always  the 
prelude  to  coitus.  He  showed  no  psychopathic  symptoms 
and  was  free  from  other  perversions.  He  pointed  out  the 
frequency  of  masochism  and  the  clever  methods  often  ap- 
plied by  so-called  masseuses.  According  to  his  experience 
masochism  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  England,  and 
English  women  are  easily  persuaded  to  practise  it. 

Case  61.  L.,  artist,  age  twenty-nine;  nervous  disease 
and  tuberculosis  of  frequent  occurrence  in  family.  Vita 
sexualis  suddenly  aroused  in  him  at  the  age  of  seven 
whilst  being  caned  ad  podicem ;  at  ten,  masturbation.  Dur- 
ing the  act  he  always  thought  of  some  one  flagellating  him. 
In  later  years  nocturnal  pollutions  were  always  accompa- 
nied by  dreams  of  flagellation.    The  wish  to  be  flogged 


MASOCHISM. 


157 


was  ever  present  in  his  mind  since  he  was  ten  years  old. 
From  eleven  to  eighteen  he  had  inclinations  to  persons 
of  his  own  sex,  though  they  never  overstepped  the  bounds 
of  boyish  friendship.  During  this  homosexual  period  he 
was  forever  agitated  by  the  desire  to  be  beaten  by  his 
companion. 

At  nineteen  coitus,  but  without  sufficient  erection  or 
gratifying  pleasure.  His  heterosexual  inclinations  were 
always  towards  women  older  than  himself.  He  was  in- 
different towards  young  girls.  His  craving  for  flagellation 
increased  with  the  years. 

At  twenty-five  he  fell  violently  in  love  with  a  woman 
much  older  than  himself,  but  marriage  he  refused.  The 
woman  made  every  effort  in  her  power  to  win  him  over 
to  natural  sexual  intercourse.  Although  he  detested  the 
state  of  affairs  and  professed  undieing  love  for  the  woman 
he  insisted  that  his  sexual  feelings  for  her  were  only  of  a 
masochistic  character.  'Now  and  then  he  succeeded  in 
persuading  her  to  flagellate  him. 

His  sexual  needs  being  strong  he  had  girls  flagellate 
him.  He  claimed  that  flagellation  was  the  only  adequate 
sexual  act  during  which  he  could  experience  really  pleas- 
urable ejaculation.  Coitus  was  of  minor  importance  and 
only  on  rare  occasions  did  he  couple  it  with  the  act  of 
flagellation,  probably  on  account  of  psychical  impotence. 

Nevertheless  the  two  acts  affected  him  in  a  different 
manner.  Coitus  seemed  to  improve  him  both  mentally 
and  physically,  whilst  flagellation  had  bodily  exhaustion 
and  moral  depression  in  its  wake.  He  was  persuaded  that 
masochism  in  him  was  a  pathological  condition;  on  that 
ground  he  came  for  advice. 

His  appearance  was  undeniably  masculine,  his  con 
duct  decent  and  beyond  criticism.  He  complained  of 
cerebral  neurasthenia  (weakness  of  mind,  of  will  power, 
absent-mindedness,  irritability,  shyness,  anxiety  of  mind, 
pressure  in  the  head,  etc.).  Genitals  normal.  Erections 
only  in  the  morning. 

He  inclined  to  the  belief  that  if  he  could  find  a  woman 


158 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


whom  he  could  love,  he  might  strip  oflf  his  masochistic  in- 
clination in  wedlock. 

Therapeutic  advice :  auto-combating  of  masochistic 
thoughts,  impulses  and  acts,  if  necessary,  with  the  aid  of 
hypnotic  suggestion;  strengthening  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, and  removing  manifestations  of  irritating  weakness 
by  antineurasthenic  treatment. 

The  cases  of  masochism  thus  far  described,  and  the 
numerous  analogous  cases  mentioned  by  those  who  report 
them,  form  a  counterpart  to  the  previously  described 
Group  "c"  of  sadism.  Just  as  in  sadism  men  excite 
and  satisfy  themselves  by  maltreating  women,  so  in  maso- 
chism the  same  effect  is  sought  in  the  passive  reception 
of  similar  abuse.^  But  Group  "a'  of  the  sadists — that 
of  lust-murder — strange  as  it  may  seem,  is  not  without  its 
counterpart  in  masochism.  In  its  extreme  consequences, 
masochism  must  lead  to  the  desire  to  be  killed  by  a  person 
of  the  opposite  sex,  in  the  same  way  that  sadism  has  its 
acme  in  active  lust-murder.  But  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  opposes  such  a  result,  so  that  the  extreme  is 
not  actually  carried  out.  When,  however,  the  whole 
structure  of  masochistic  ideas  is  purely  psychical,  in  the 
imagination  of  such  individuals  even  the  extreme  may  be 
reached,  as  the  following  case  shows : — 

Case  62.  A  middle-aged  man,  married,  and  the 
father  of  a  family,  who  had  always  led  a  normal  vita  sex- 
ualis,  but  who  came  of  a  very  nervous  family,  made  the 
following  communication:  In  his  early  youth  he  was 
powerfully  excited  sexually  at  the  sight  of  a  woman 
slaughtering  an  animal  with  a  knife.  From  that  time, 
for  many  years,  he  had  revelled  in  the  lustfully  coloured 
idea  of  being  stabbed  and  cut,  and  even  killed,  by  women 
with  knives.  Later  on,  after  the  beginning  of  normal 
sexual  intercourse,  these  ideas  lost  completely  their  per- 
verse stimulus  for  him. 

^  Instructive  instances  are  given  by  Seydel,  "  Vierteljahrsschr.  f . 
ger.  Med.,"  1893,  Heft  2,  pp.  275,  276. 


MASOCHISM. 


159 


This  case  should  be  compared  with  the  statements 
according  to  which  men  find  sexual  pleasure  in  being 
lightly  pricked  with  knives  in  the  hands  of  women,  who 
at  the  same  time  threaten  them  with  death. 

Such  fancies,  perhaps,  give  the  key  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  following  strange  case,  for  which  I  am  indebted 
to  a  communication  from  Dr.  Korher,  of  Eankau,  in 
Silesia : — 

Case  63,  ^^A  lady  makes  me  the  following  communi- 
cation: While  still  a  young  and  innocent  girl,  she  was 
married  to  a  man  of  about  thirty  years.  On  their  wedding 
night  he  forced  a  bowl  with  soap  into  her  hands,  and 
without  any  expression  of  endearment  wanted  her  to 
lather  his  chin  and  neck  (as  if  for  shaving).  The  inex- 
perienced young  wife  did  it,  and  was  not  a  little  astonished 
during  the  first  weeks  of  married  life  to  learn  its  secrets  in 
absolutely  no  other  form.  Her  husband  always  told  her 
that  it  gave  him  the  greatest  delight  to  have  his  face 
lathered  by  her.  Later,  after  she  had  sought  the  advice 
of  friends,  she  induced  her  husband  to  perform  coitus,  and 
had  three  children  in  the  course  of  time  (by  him,  she 
states  with  every  assurance).  The  husband  was  industrious 
and  reliable,  but  a  moody  man,  with  short  temper;  by 
occupation  a  merchant." 

It  may  be  inferred  that  this  man  conceived  the  act  of 
being  shaved  (i,e.,  the  lathering  as  a  preparatory  measure) 
as  a  rudimentary,  symbolic  realisation  of  ideas  of  injury  or 
death,  or  of  fancies  about  knives,  like  those  the  man  pre- 
viously mentioned  had  had  in  his  youth,  and  by  means  of 
which  he  had  been  sexually  excited  and  satisfied.  The 
perfect  sadistic  counterpart  to  this  case,  looked  upon  in 
the  same  light,  is  offered  by  observation  37,  which  is  a 
case  of  symbolic  sadism. 

Symbolic  Masochism. 
At  any  rate,  there  is  a  whole  group  of  masochists  who 


160 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


satisfy  themselves  with  the  symbolic  representations  of 
situations  corresponding  with  their  perversion;  a  group 
which  corresponds  with  Group  '^a'  and  '^e'  of  sadism. 
Thus,  just  as  the  perverse  longings  of  the  masochist  may 
on  the  one  hand  advance  to  ^^passive  lust-murder"  (to  be 
sure,  only  in  imagination),  so,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
may  be  satisfied  with  simple  symbolic  representations  of 
the  desired  situations,  which  otherwise  are  expressed  in 
acts  of  cruelty,  (this,  of  course,  taken  objectively,  goes 
much  farther  than  the  idea  of  being  murdered,  but  in 
fact  not  so  far,  owing  to  the  determining  subjective  con- 
ditions). Cases  similar  to  63  may  be  here  described,  in 
which  the  acts  desired  and  planned  by  the  masochists  have  a 
'purely  symbolic  character,  and  to  a  certain  extent  serve  to 
define  the  desired  situation. 

Case  64.  {Pascal,  ^^Igiene  delF  amore".)  Every 
three  months  a  man  of  about  forty-five  years  would  visit 
a  certain  prostitute  and  pay  her  ten  francs  for  the  follow- 
ing act.  The  puella  had  to  undress  him,  tie  his  hands  and 
feet,  bandage  his  eyes,  and  draw  the  curtains  of  the  win- 
dows. Then  she  would  make  her  guest  sit  down  on  a 
sofa,  and  leave  him  there  alone  in  a  helpless  position. 
After  half  an  hour  she  had  to  come  back  and  unbind  him. 
Then  the  man  would  pay  her  and  leave  perfectly  satisfied, 
to  repeat  his  visit  in  about  three  months. 

In  the  dark  this  man  seems  to  have  extended  this 
situation  of  being  helpless  in  the  hands  of  a  woman  by 
the  aid  of  imagination.  The  following  case,  in  which 
again  a  complicated  comedy  in  the  sense  of  masochistic 
desires  is  played,  is  still  more  peculiar : — 

Case  65.  (Dr,  Pascal,  ibid.)  A  gentleman  in  Paris 
was  accustomed  to  call  on  certain  evenings  at  a  house 
where  a  woman,  the  owner,  acceded  to  his  peculiar  desire. 
He  entered  the  salon  in  full  dress,  and  she,  likewise  in 
evening  toilette,  had  to  receive  him  with  a  very  haughty 


MASOCHISM. 


161 


manner.  He  addressed  her  as  ^^Marquise,"  and  she  had 
to  call  him  ^"^dear  Count''.  Then  he  spoke  of  his  good  for- 
tune in  finding  her  alone,  of  his  love  for  her,  and  of  a 
lover's  interview.  At  this  the  lady  had  to  feel  insulted. 
The  pseudo-count  grew  bolder  and  bolder,  and  asked  the 
pseudo-marquise  for  a  kiss  on  her  shoulder.  ^^There  is  an 
angry  scene;  the  bell  is  rung;  a  servant,  prepared  for  the 
occasion,  appears,  and  throws  the  count  out  of  the  house. 
He  departs  well  satisfied,  and  pays  the  actors  in  the  farce 
handsomely." 

Case  66.  X.,  age  thirty-eight,  engineer,  married, 
father  of  three  children,  married  life  unmarred.  Visited 
periodically  a  prostitute  who  had  to  enact,  previous  to 
coitus,  the  following  comedy.  As  soon  as  he  entered  her 
compartment  she  took  him  by  the  ears,  and  pulled  him  all 
over  the  room,  shouting:  ^^What  do  you  want  here?  Do 
you  know  that  you  ought  to  be  at  school  ?  Why  don't  you 
go  to  school?"  She  would  then  slap  his  face  ,and  flog 
him  soundly,  until  he  knelt  before  her  begging  pardon. 
She  then  handed  him  a  little  basket  containing  bread  and 
fruit,  such  as  children  carry  with  them  to  school.  He 
remained  renitent  until  the  girl's  harshness  produced  or- 
gasm in  him,  when  he  would  call  out :  ^^I  am  going !  I  am 
going!"  and  then  performed  coitus. 

It  is  probable  that  this  masochistic  comedy  may  have 
arisen  from  some  scenes  enacted  during  his  schooltime  and 
that  in  this  wise  libido  became  associated  with  them.  Fur- 
ther details  of  X.'s  vita  sexualis  are  not  known.  (Dr. 
Carrara^  in  Archivio  di  Psichiatria  xxix.,  4)* 

Ideal  Masochism. 

A  distinction  must  be  made  between  "symbolic"  and 
"ideal"  masochism.  In  the  latter  the  psychical  perver- 
sion remains  entirely  within  the  spheres  of  imagination 
and  fancy,  and  no  attempt  at  realisation  is  made.  (Cf. 

11 


162 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


cases  57  and  62.)  Two  other  cases  of  ideal  masochism 
are  quoted  here.  The  first  is  that  of  an  individual  men- 
tally and  physically  tainted,  bearing  degenerative  signs,  in 
whom  mental  and  physical  impotence  occurred  early : — 

Case  67.  Mr.  Z.,  aged  twenty-two,  single,  was 
brought  to  me  by  his  father  for  medical  advice,  because  he 
was  very  nervous  and  plainly  sexually  abnormal.  Mother 
and  maternal  grandmother  were  insane.  His  father  begat 
him  at  a  time  when  he  was  suffering  severely  from  ner- 
vousness. 

Patient  was  said  to  have  been  a  very  lively  and  talented 
child.  At  the  age  of  seven  he  was  noticed  to  practise 
masturbation.  After  his  ninth  year  he  became  inattentive, 
forgetful,  and  did  not  progress  in  his  studies,  constantly 
requiring  help  and  protection.  With  difficulty  he  got 
through  the  Gymnasium,  and  during  his  time  of  freedom 
had  attracted  attention  by  his  indolence,  absent-minded- 
ness, and  various  foolish  acts. 

Consultation  was  occasioned  by  an  occurrence  in  the 
street,  in  which  Z.  had  forced  himself  on  a  young  girl  in  a 
very  impetuous  manner,  and  in  great  excitement  had  tried 
to  have  a  conversation  with  her. 

The  patient  gave  as  a  reason  that  by  conversing  with 
a  respectable  girl  he  wished  to  excite  himself  so  that  he 
could  be  potent  in  coitus  with  a  prostitute ! 

His  father  cJiaracterised  him  as  a  man  of  perfectly 
good  disposition,  moral  but  lazy,  dissatisfied  with  himself, 
often  in  despair  about  his  want  of  success  in  life,  indolent, 
and  interested  in  nothing  but  music,  for  which  he  possessed 
great  talent. 

The  patient's  exterior — his  plagiocephalic  head,  his 
large,  prominent  ears,  the  deficient  innervation  of  the 
right  facialis  about  the  mouth,  the  neuropathic  expression 
of  the  eyes — indicated  a  degenerate,  neuropathic  indi- 
vidual. 

Z.  was  tall,  of  powerful  frame,  and  in  all  respects  of 
masculine  appearance.    Pelvis  masculine,  testicles  well 


MASOCHISM. 


163 


developed,  penis  remarkably  large,  mons  veneris  with 
abundant  hair.  The  right  testicle  much  lower  than  the 
left,  the  cremasteric  reflex  weak  on  both  sides.  The 
patient  was  intellectually  below  the  average.  He  felt 
his  deficiency,  complained  of  his  indolence,  and  asked  to 
have  his  will  strengthened.  His  awkward,  embarrassed 
manner,  timid  glances,  and  relaxed  attitude  pointed  to 
masturbation.  The  patient  confessed  that  from  his  seventh 
year  until  a  year  and  a  half  ago  he  practised  it,  years  at  a 
time,  from  eight  to  ten  times  daily.  Until  a  few  years 
ago,  when  he  became  neurasthenic  (cephalic  pressure,  loss 
of  mental  power,  spinal  irritation,  etc.),  he  said  he  always 
found  great  sensuous  pleasure  in  it.  Since  then  this  had 
been  lost,  and  the  desire  to  masturbate  had  disappeared. 
He  had  constantly  grown  more  bashful  and  indolent,  less 
energetic,  and  more  cowardly  and  apprehensive.  He  had 
lost  interest  in  everything,  and  attended  to  his  business 
only  from  a  sense  of  duty,  feeling  very  low-spirited.  He 
had  never  thought  of  coitus,  and  from  his  standpoint  as 
an  onanist,  he  could  not  understand  how  others  could  find 
pleasure  in  it. 

Investigation  in  the  direction  of  inverted  sexual  in- 
stinct gave  a  negative  result.  He  said  he  never  was  drawn 
toward  persons  of  his  own  sex;  he  rather  thought  he  had 
now  and  then  had  a  weak  inclination  for  females.  He 
asserted  that  he  came  to  masturbate  independently.  In 
this  thirteenth  year  he  first  noticed  ejaculations  as  a  result 
of  masturbatic  manipulations. 

It  was  only  after  long  persuasion  that  Z.  consented  to 
entirely  unveil  his  vita  sexualis.  As  his  statements  which 
follow  show,  he  may  be  classified  as  a  case  of  ideal  maso- 
chism, with  rudimentary  sadism.  The  patient  distinctly 
remembered  that  at  the  age  of  six,  without  any  cause,  he 
had  ^^ideas  of  violence".  He  was  compelled  to  imagine 
that  a  servant  girl  spread  his  legs  apart  and  showed  his 
genitals  to  another ;  that  she  tried  to  throw  him  into  cold 
or  hot  water  in  order  to  cause  him  pain.  These  ^^ideas  of 
violence'^  were  attended  with  lustful  feelings,  and  became 


164 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


the  cause  of  masturbatic  manipulations.  Later  the  patient 
called  them  up  Yoluntarily,  in  order  to  incite  himself  to 
masturbation.  They  also  played  a  part  in  his  dreams; 
but  they  never  induced  pollution,  apparently  because  the 
patient  masturbated  excessively  during  the  day. 

In  time,  to  these  masochistic  ^^ideas  of  violence'^ 
others  of  a  sadistic  nature  were  added.  At  first  they  v^ere 
scenes  in  which  boys  forcibly  practised  onanism  on  one 
another,  or  cut  off  the  genitals.  He  often  imagined  him- 
self such  a  boy,  now  in  an  active,  now  in  a  passive  role. 
Later  he  busied  himself  with  mental  pictures  of  girls  and 
women  exhibiting  themselves  to  one  another.  He  revelled 
in  the  thought,  for  example,  of  a  servant  girl  spreading 
another  girl's  legs  apart  and  pulling  the  genital  hair;  or 
in  the  thought  of  boys  treating  girls  cruelly,  and  pricking 
and  pinching  their  genitals. 

Such  ideas  also  always  induced  sexual  excitement,  but 
he  never  experienced  any  impulse  to  carry  them  out 
actively  or  to  have  them  performed  on  himself  passively. 
It  satisfied  him  to  use  them  for  masturbation.  Later  on, 
with  diminishing  sexual  imagination  and  libido  these  ideas 
and  impulses  had  become  infrequent,  but  their  content 
remained  unchanged.  The  masochistic  ^^ideas  of  violence" 
predominated  over  the  sadistic.  Whenever  he  saw  a  lady, 
he  had  the  thought  that  she  had  sexual  ideas  like  his  own. 
In  this  way,  in  part,  he  explained  his  embarrassment  in 
social  intercourse.  Having  heard  that  he  would  get  rid 
of  his  burdensome  sexual  ideas  if  he  w^ere  to  accustom 
himself  to  natural  sexual  indulgence,  he  had  twice  at- 
tempted coitus,  though  he  only  experienced  repugnance, 
and  was  not  confident  of  success.  On  both  occasions  the 
attempt  was  a  fiasco.  The  second  time  he  made  the  attempt 
he  felt  such  aversion  that  he  pushed  the  girl  away  and  fled. 

The  second  case  is  the  following  observation  placed 
at  my  disposal  by  a  colleague.  Even  though  it  be  aphor- 
istic, it  seems  particularly  suited  to  throw  a  clear  light  on 
the  distinctive  element  of  masochism — the  consciousness 
of  subjection,  in  its  peculiar  psycho-sexual  effect: — 


MASOCHISM. 


165 


Case  68.  Z.,  aged  twenty-seven,  artist,  powerfully 
built,  of  pleasing  appearance,  said  to  be  free  from  hered- 
itary taint.  Healthy  in  youth,  since  his  twenty-third  year 
he  had  been  nervous  and  inclined  to  be  hypochrondriacal. 
Although  he  bragged  of  sexual  indulgence  he  was  not  very 
virile.  In  spite  of  associations  with  females,  his  relations 
with  them  were  limited  to  innocent  attentions.  At  the 
same  time,  his  covetousness  for  women  who  were  cold 
toward  him  was  remarkable.  Since  his  twenty-fifth 
year  he  had  noticed  that  females,  no  matter  how  ugly, 
always  excited  him  sexually  whenever  he  discovered  any- 
thing domineering  in  their  character.  An  angry  word 
from  the  lips  of  such  a  woman  was  sufiicient  to  give  him 
the  most  violent  erections.  Thus,  one  day  he  sat  in  a  cafe 
and  heard  the  (ugly)  female  cashier  scold  the  waiters  in  a 
loud  voice.  This  threw  him  into  the  most  intense  sexual 
excitement,  which  soon  induced  ejaculation.  Z.  required 
the  women  with  whom  he  was  to  have  sexual  intercourse 
to  repulse  and  annoy  him  in  various  ways.  He  thought 
that  only  a  woman  like  the  heroines  of  Sacher-Masoch's 
romances  could  charm  him. 

These  cases  of  ideal  masochism  plainly  demonstrate 
that  the  persons  afflicted  with  this  anomaly  do  not  aim  at 
actually  suffering  pain.  The  term  ^^algolagnia,''  therefore, 
as  applied  by  Schrench-Notzing  and  by  v.  Eulenburg  to 
this  anomaly,  does  not  signify  the  essence,  i.e.,  the  psy- 
chical nucleus  of  the  element  of  masochistic  sentiment  and 
imagination.  This  essence  consists  rather  of  the  lustfully 
coloured  consciousness  of  being  subject  to  the  power  of 
another  person.  The  ideal,  or  even  actual,  enactment  of 
violence  on  the  part  of  the  controlling  person,  is  only  the 
means  to  the  end,  i,e,,  the  realisation  of  the  sentiment. 

Cases  like  this,  in  which  the  whole  perversion  of  the 
vita  sexualis  is  confined  to  the  sphere  of  imagination — to 
the  inner  world  of  thought  and  instinct — and  only  acci- 
dentally comes  to  the  knowledge  of  others,  do  not  seem  to 
be  infrequent.    Their  practical  significance,  like  that  of 


166 


I»SYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


masochism  in  general  (which  has  not  the  great  forensic 
importance  of  sadism),  is  confined  to  the  psychical  im- 
potence to  which  such  individuals,  as  a  rule,  become 
subject;  and  to  the  intense  impulse  to  solitary  indulgence, 
with  adequate  imaginary  ideas,  and  all  its  consequences. 

That  masochism  is  a  perversion  of  uncommonly  fre- 
quent occurrence  is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  relatively 
large  number  of  cases  that  have  thus  far  been  studied 
scientifically,  as  well  as  by  the  agreement  of  the  various 
statements  reported. 

The  works  concerning  prostitution  in  large  cities  also 
contain  numerous  statements  concerning  this  matter.^ 

It  is  interesting  and  worthy  of  mention  that  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  of  men  was  subject  to  this  perversion 
and  describes  it  in  his  autobiography  (though  somewhat 
erroneously).  From  ^^Jean  Jacques  Rousseau's  Confes- 
sions" it  is  evident  that  he  was  affected  with  masochism. 

Rousseau,  with  reference  to  whose  life  and  malady 
Mobius  {"Z.  J.  Rousseau's  Krankheitsgeschichte."  Leipzig, 
1890)  and  Chatelain  (''Lsl  folic  de  J.  J.  Rousseau,"  Neu- 
chatel,  1891)  may  be  consulted,  tells  in  his  ^'^Confessions" 
(part  i.,  book  i.)  how  Miss  Lambercier,  aged  thirty,  greatly 
impressed  him  when  he  was  eight  years  old  and  lived  with 
her  brother  as  his  pupil.  Her  solicitude  when  he  could 
not  immediately  answer  a  question,  and  her  threats  to 

^  Leo  Taxil  ( op.  cit.,  p.  228 )  describes  masochistic  scenes  in 
Parisian  brothels.  The  man  affected  with  this  perversion  is  there 
also  called  "  slave." 

Cofflgnon  ("La  corruption  k  Paris")  has  a  chapter  in  his  book 
entitled  "  Les  Passionels  "  which  contains  contributions  to  this  sub- 
ject. 

The  strongest  proof  of  the  frequency  of  masochism  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  openly  appears  in  newspaper  advertisements.  For 
instance,  the  following  advertisement  appeared  in  the  "Hannover- 
sches'  Tageblatt,"  4th  December,  1895:  — 

"  SacJier-Masoch,  109,404.  Ladies  interested  in  the  works,  and 
who  embody  the  female  character s^  of  this  author  are  requested  to 
send  their  address^  under  No.  R.  537,  to  the  offices  of  this  paper. 
Strictest  discretion."  Another  similar  advertisement  appeared  in 
the  same  number. 


MASOCHISM. 


167 


punisli  him  if  he  did  not  learn  well,  made  the  deepest 
impression  on  him.  When  one  day  he  had  blows  at  her 
hands,  with  the  feeling  of  pain  and  shame  he  also  experi- 
enced sensuous  pleasure,  that  incited  a  great  desire  to  be 
whipped  by  her  again.  It  was  only  for  fear  of  disturbing 
the  lady  that  Rousseau  failed  to  make  other  opportunities 
to  experience  this  lustful,  sensual  feeling.  One  day,  how- 
ever, he  unintentionally  gave  cause  for  a  whipping  at  Miss 
Lambercier's  hands.  This  was  the  last;  for  Miss  Lam- 
bercier  must  have  noticed  something  of  the  peculiar  effect 
of  the  punishment,  she  did  not  allow  the  eight-year-old 
boy  to  sleep  in  her  room  any  more.  From  this  time 
Rousseau  felt  a  desire  to  have  himself  punished  by  ladies 
pleasing  to  him,  d  la  Lambercier,  but  he  asserts  that  until 
he  became  a  youth  he  knew  nothing  of  the  relation  of  the 
sexes  to  each  other.  As  is  known,  Rousseau  was  first  in- 
troduced to  the  real  mysteries  of  love  in  his  thirteenth  year, 
and  lost  his  innocence  through  Madame  de  Warrens.  Till 
then  he  had  had  only  feelings  and  impulses  attracting  him 
to  woman  in  the  nature  of  passive  flagellation,  and  other 
masochistic  ideas. 

Rousseau  describes  in  extenso  how  he  suffered,  with  his 
great  sexual  desires,  by  reason  of  his  peculiar  sensuousness, 
which  had  undoubtedly  been  awakened  by  his  whippings, 
for  he  revelled  in  desire,  and  could  not  disclose  his  long- 
ings. It  would  be  erroneous,  however,  to  suppose  that 
Rousseau  was  concerned  merely  with  flagellation.  Fla- 
gellation only  awakened  ideas  of  a  masochistic  nature. 
At  least  in  these  ideas  lies  the  psychological  nucleus  of  his 
interesting  study  of  self.  The  essential  element  with 
Rousseau  was  the  feeling  of  subjection  to  the  woman. 
This  is  clearly  shown  by  the  ^^Confessions,'^  in  which 
he  expressly  emphasises  that  "^tre  aux  genoux  d'une 
maitresse  imperieuse,  obeir  a  ses  ordres,  avoir  des  pardons 
a  lui  demander,  etaient  pour  moi  de  tres  douces  jouis- 
sances.'' 

This  passage  proves  that  the  consciousness  of  subjec- 


168 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALI6. 


tion  to  and  humiliation  by  tlie  woman  was  the  most 
important  element. 

To  be  sure,  Rousseau  was  himself  in  error  in  supposing 
that  this  impulse  to  be  humiliated  by  a  woman  had  arisen 
by  association  of  ideas  from  the  idea  of  flagellation : — 

^^N'osant  jamais  declarer  mon  gout,  je  I'amusais  du 
moins  par  des  rapports  qui  m'en  conservaient  I'idee". 

It  is  only  in  connectioja  with  the  numerous  cases  of 
masochism,  the  existence  6f  which  has  now  been  estab- 
lishedj  and  among  which  there  are  so  many  that  are  in  no 
wise  connected  with  flagellation^  showing  the  primary  and 
purely  psychical  character  of  this  instinct  of  subjection — 
it  is  only  in  connection  with  these  cases  that  a  complete 
insight  into  Rousseau  s  case  is  obtained  and  the  error  de- 
tected into  which  he  necessarily  fell  in  the  analysis  of  his 
own  condition. 

Binet  (^^Eevue  Anthropologique/'  xxiv.,  p.  256),  who 
analyses  Rousseau's  case  in  detail,  justly  calls  attention  to 
its  masochistic  significance  when  he  says:  "Ce  qu'aime 
Rousseau  dans  les  femmes,  ce  n'est  pas  seulement  le 
sourcil  fronce,  la  main  levee,  le  regard  severe,  1' attitude 
imperieuse,  c'est  aussi  Tetat  emotionnel,  dont  ces  faits 
sont  la  traduction  exterieure;  ill  aime  la  femme  fiere, 
dedaigneuse,  I'ecrasant  a  ses  pieds  du  poids  de  sa  royale 
colere". 

The  solution  of  this  enigmatical  psychological  fact 
Binet  finds  in  his  assumption  that  it  is  an  instance  of 
fetichism,  only  with  the  difference  that  the  object  of  the 
fetichism — ix,,  the  object  of  individual  attraction  (fetich) 
— is  not  a  portion  of  the  body  like  a  hand  or  foot,  but  a 
mental  peculiarity.  This  enthusiasm  he  calls  "amour 
spiritualist e/^  in  contrast  with  ''amour  plastique,^^  as  mani- 
fested in  ordinary  fetichism. 

This  deduction  is  acute,  but  it  is  only  a  term  by  which 
to  designate  a  fact,  not  a  solution  of  it.  Whether  an 
explanation  is  possible,  will  later  occupy  our  attention. 


MASOCHISM. 


169 


There  were  also  elements  of  masochism  (and  sadism) 
in  the  French  writer  C.  P.  Baudelaire^  who  died  insane. 

Baudelaire  came  of  an  insane  and  eccentric  family. 
From  his  youth  he  was  psychically  abnormal.  His  vita 
sexualis  was  decidedly  abnormal.  He  had  love-affairs 
with  "Ugly,  repulsive  women — negresses,  dwarfs,  giantesses. 
About  a  very  beautiful  woman  he  expressed  the  wish  to 
see  her  hung  up  by  her  hands  and  to  kiss  her  feet.  This 
enthusiasm  for  the  naked  foot  also  appears  in  one  of  his 
fiercely  feverish  poems  as  the  equivalent  of  sexual  indulg- 
ence. He  said  women  were  animals  who  had  to  be  shut 
up,  beaten  and  fed  well.  The  man  displaying  these 
masochistic  and  sadistic  inclinations  died  of  paretic  de- 
mentia.   (Lomhroso,  "The  Man  of  Genius'\) 

In  scientific  literature,  the  conditions  constituting 
masochism  have  not  received  attention  until  recently. 
Tarnowsky^  however  (^^Die  krankhaften  Erscheinungen 
des  Geschlechtssinns/'  Berlin,  1886),  relates  that  he  has 
known  happily  married,  intellectual  men,  who  from  time 
to  time  felt  an  irresistible  impulse  to  subject  themselves 
to  the  coarsest,  cynical  treatment — ^to  scoldings  or  blows 
from  passive  or  active  pederasts  or  prostitutes.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that,  as  Tarnowshy  observes,  in  certain 
cases  blows,  even  when  they  draw  blood,  do  not  bring  the 
desired  result  (virility,  or  at  least  ejaculation  during 
flagellation)  by  those  given  to  passive  flagellation.  ^^The 
individual  must  then  be  undressed  by  force,  his  hands  tied, 
fastened  to  a  bench,  etc.,  during  which  he  shams  opposi- 
tion, scolds,  and  pretends  to  resist.  Only  under  such 
circumstances  do  the  blows  induce  excitement  leading  to 
ejaculation." 

0.  Zimmermaris  work,  ^^Die  Wonne  des  Leids/'  Leip- 
zig, 1885,  also  contributes  much  to  this  subject/  taken 
from  history  and  literature. 

^  However,  the  domain  of  masochism  must  be  sharply  differen- 
tiated from  the  principal  subject  of  that  work,  which  is,  that  love 
contains  an  element  of  suffering.    Unrequited  love  has  always  been 


170 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


More  recently  this  matter  has  attracted  fuller  attention. 

A.  Moll,  in  his  work,  ^^Die  Contrare  Sexualempfin- 
dnng/'  pp.  133  and  151  et  seq,,  Berlin,  1891,  quotes  a 
number  of  cases  of  complete  masochism  in  individuals  of 
inverted  sexuality,  and  among  them  that  of  a  man  suffer- 
ing with  sexual  perversion,  who  sent  written  instructions, 
containing  twenty  paragraphs,  to  a  man  engaged  for  this 
purpose,  who  was  to  treat  and  abuse  him  like  a  slave. 

In  June,  1891,  Mr.  Dimitri  von  Stefanowshy,  Deputy 
Government  Attorney  in  Jaroslaw,  Russia,  informed  me 
that,  about  three  years  before,  he  had  given  his  attention 
to  the  perversion  of  the  vita  sexualis  designated  ^^maso- 
chism" by  me,  and  called  ^^passivism"  by  him;  that  a 
year  and  a  half  previously  he  had  prepared  a  paper  on  the 
subject  for  Professor  von  Kowalewsky  for  the  Russian 
^^Archives  of  Psychiatry'' ;  and  that  in  November,  1888, 
he  had  read  a  paper  on  this  subject,  considered  in  its  legal 
and  psychological  aspects,  before  the  Law  Society  of  Mos- 
cow (printed  in  the  ^^Juridischer  Boten,"  the  organ  of 
the  society,  in  ISTos.  6  to  8).^ 

V,  Schrenck-N otzing  devotes  in  his  work  ^^Therapeutic 
Suggestions  in  Psychopathia  Sexualis/^  (Stuttgart,  1892), 
several  paragraphs  to  masochism  and  sadism  and  quotes 
several  observations  of  his  own. 

Professor  E.  Deak  of  Buda  Pesth,  points  out  that  the 
favourite  thought  of  the  masochist,  viz. :  to  be  used  by  a 
female  peTson  as  a  beast  of  burden,  may  be  found  in  the 
old-Indian  Literature,  e.g.,  in  ^^Pantschatandra"  (Benfey, 
Vol.  ii.,  Book  iv.)  in  the  form  of  a  narrative:  ^Woman's 
Wiles,'^  the  gist  of  which  is:  The  wife  of  King  ISTenda  (in 

described  as  "  sweet,  but  sorrowful,"  and  poets  speak  of  "  blissful 
pain  "  or  "  painful  bliss."  This  must  not  be  confounded^  as  Z.  does, 
with  the  manifestations  of  masochism,  any  more  than  should  be  the 
characterisation  of  an  unyielding  lover  as  "  cruel."  It  is  remark- 
able, however,  that  Hamerling  ("Amor  und  Psyche,"  iv.  Gesang) 
uses  perfect  masochistic  pictures,  flagellation,  etc.,  to  express  this 
feeling. 

^  Cf,  his  recent  paper  on  "  Passivisimus "  in  the  "  Archives 
d'Anthropologie  Criminelle,"  1892,  vii.,  p.  294. 


MASOCHISM. 


171 


consequence  of  some  love  quarrel)  was  very  angry  with 
her  husband,  but  despite  of  his  most  earnest  entreaties 
would  not  be  reconciled.  He  says  to  her :  ^^Love,  without 
thee  I  cannot  exist.  I  throw  myself  at  thy  feet  and  im- 
plore thee  to  be  kind  to  me."  She  replies :  ^^If  thou  wilt 
let  me  put  a  bit  in  thy  mouth,  mount  thee  and  goad  thee 
on  to  run  and  neigh  like  a  horse,  I  will  forgive  thee.'^ 
He  did  it.    {Cf.,  Case  58  of  this  book !) 

Benfey  found  a  similar  story  in  a  Buddhistic  narra- 
tive which  is  published  in  ^^Memoires  sur  les  contrees  occi- 
dentales  par  Hionen  Thsang,  traduit  du  Chinois  par  St. 
Julien,''  i.,  124. 

Sacher-MasocJis  writings  have  repeatedly  been  men- 
tioned in  this  book. 

Many  perverts  refer  to  this  author  as  having  given 
typical  descriptions  of  their  psychical  conditions. 

Zola  has  a  masochistic  scene  in  his  ^^l^ana,"  also  in 
^'Eugene  Rougon.'^  The  ^^decadent''  literature  of  recent 
times  in  France  and  Germany  often  has  for  a  theme 
sadism  and  masochism.  According  to  v.  Stefanowsky  the 
tendency  of  the  Russian  novel  lies  in  the  same  direction. 
Johann  George  Forster  (1754-94)  mentions  in  his 
^'Travels"  that  the  same  idea  underlies  the  Russian  folk- 
lore. Stefanowsky  finds  the  type  of  the  ^^Passivist"  in  an 
English  tragedy  by  Otway:  ^^Venice  preserved,"  and  re- 
fers also  to  Dr.  Luiz's  "Les  fellatores.  Moeurs  de  la  deca- 
dence," Paris,  1888  (Union  des  bibliophiles). 

Johannes  Wedde  (social-democrat  agitator,  died  1890), 
of  Hamburg,  advocates  in  his  lyrics  the  subjection  of  man 
to  woman  who  should  be  mistress  instead  of  handmaid. 
(Of.  Max  Hoffmann,  "Magazin,"  v.  29,  2,  96). 

A  striking  example  of  masochism  may  also  be  found  in 
northern  literature  by  J.  P.  Jacohsen,  "Niels  Lyne." 

(b)  Latent  Masochism — Foot-  and  Shoe-Fetichists. 

Following  the  group  of  masochists  is  the  very  numer- 
ous class  of  foot-  and  shoe-fetichists.    This  group  forms 


172 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


the  transition  to  the  manifestations  of  another  independent 
perversion,  i.e.,  fetichism  itself;  but  it  stands  in  closer 
relationship  to  masochism  than  to  the  latter,  for  which 
reason  it  is  placed  here. 

By  fetichists  (v.  page  218)  I  understand  individuals 
whose  sexual  interest  is  concentrated  exclusively  on  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  female  body,  or  on  certain  portions  of 
female  attire.  One  of  the  most  frequent  forms  of  this 
fetichism  is  that  in  which  the  female  foot  or  shoe  is  the 
fetich,  and  becomes  the  exclusive  object  of  sexual  feeling 
and  desire.  It  is  highly  probable,  and  shown  by  a  correct 
classification  of  the  observed  cases,  that  the  majority — 
and  perhaps  all — of  the  cases  of  shoe  fetichism,  rest  upon 
a  basis  of  more  or  less  conscious  masochistic  desire  for 
self-humiliation. 

In  Hammonds  case  (case  59)  the  satisfaction  of  a 
masochist  was  found  in  being  trod  upon.  In  cases  55  and 
58  they  also  had  themselves  trod  upon.  In  case  59,  equus 
eroticus,  the  person  loved  a  woman's  foot,  etc.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  of  masochism  the  act  of  being  trod  upon 
with  feet  plays  a  part  as  an  easily  accessible  means  of 
expressing  the  relation  of  subjection.^ 

Case  69.  Z.,  age  28,  hereditarily  and  constitutionally 
neuropathic,  claimed  to  have  had  pollution  at  the  age  of 
eleven,  when  he  was  chastised  by  his  mother  ad  podicem. 
He  often  recalled  the  scene  as  a  pleasurable  experience.  At 
the  age  of  thirteen  he  developed  a  weakness  for  ladies^ 

^  (Moll,  "  Untersuclmngen  iiber  Libido  Seocualis,  Bd.  i.,  2  Theil, 
Beob.  36,  p.  320.)  However,  against  the  theory  that  foot-  and 
shoe-fetichism  is  a  manifestation  of  (latent)  masochism,  Dr.  Moll 
{op.  cit,,  p.  136)  raises  the  objection  that  it  is  still  unexplained 
why  the  fetichist  so  often  prefers  boots  with  high  heels,  to  boots  and 
shoes  of  a  particular  kind — buttoned  or  laced.  To  this  objection  it 
may  be  remarked  that  in  the  first  place  the  high  heels  characterise 
the  shoes  as  feminine,  and  in  the  second  place,  that  in  spite  of  the 
sexual  character  of  his  inclination,  the  fetichist  demands  all  kinds 
of  aesthetic  qualities  in  his  fetich;  also  the  interesting  theories 
advanced  by  Restif  de  la  Bretonne  [himself  foot-fetichist],  and 
quoted  in  MolVs  work,  op.  cit.,  pp.  498  and  499,  footnote. 


MASOCHISM. 


173 


boots  with  high  heels.  He  pressed  them  between  his  thighs 
and  thus  produced  ejaculation.  The  very  thought  of  it 
sufficed  to  effect  the  desired  result.  He  soon  added  to 
this  fancy  the  idea  that  he  lay  at  the  feet  of  a  pretty  girl 
and  allowed  her  to  kick  him  with  her  pretty  boots.  This 
caused  ejaculation.  Until  he  was  twenty-one  he  never 
had  desire  for  coitus  or  the  female  genitals.  From  twenty- 
one  to  twenty-five  he  suffered  from  tuberculosis,  during 
which  period  the  masochistic  inclination  almost  disap- 
peared. After  recovery  he  tried  coitus  for  the  first  time, 
but  when  he  saw  the  nude  form  of  the  girl  his  desire  van- 
ished completely.  He  now  confined  himself  to  his  maso- 
chistic fancies,  but  hoped  that  some  day  he  would  meet 
with  the  ideal  woman  who  by  means  of  sadistic  acts  might 
lead  him  to  normal  sexual  intercourse. 

Such  cases  are  numerous  in  which,  within  a  fully 
developed  circle  of  masochistic  ideas,  the  foot  and  the 
shoe  or  boot  of  a  woman,  conceived  as  a  means  of  humili- 
ation,  have  become  the  objects  of  special  sexual  interest. 
Through  numerous  degrees  that  are  easily  discriminated 
they  form  the  demonstrable  transition  to  other  cases  in 
which  the  masochistic  inclinations  retreat  more  and  more 
to  the  background,  and  little  by  little  pass  beyond  the 
threshold  of  consciousness,  while  the  interest  in  women's 
shoes,  apparently  absolutely  inexplicable,  alone  remains  in 
consciousness.  Frequent  cases  of  shoe-lovers,  which,  like 
all  cases  of  fetichism,  possess  forensic  interest  (theft  of 
shoes),  occupy  a  position  midway  between  masochism  and 
fetichism.  The  majority  or  all  may  be  looked  upon  as 
instances  of  latent  masochism  (the  motive  remaining  un- 
conscious) in  which  the  female  foot  or  shoe,  as  the  maso- 
chisfs  fetich,  has  acquired  an  independent  significance. 

In  cases  70  and  71  the  female  shoe  possesses  a  subor- 
dinate interest,  but  unmistakable  masochistic  desires  play 
an  important  part: — 

Case  70.  Mr.  X.,  aged  twenty-five,  parents  healthy, 


174 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


never  ill  before,  placed  the  following  autobiography  at 
my  disposal:  ^'I  began  to  practise  onanism  at  the  age  of 
ten,  without  ever  having  any  lustful  thoughts  during  the 
act.  Yet  at  that  time — I  am  sure  of  this — the  sight  and 
touch  of  girls'  elegant  boots  had  a  peculiar  charm  for  me ; 
my  greatest  desire  was  also  to  wear  such  shoes,  a  wish 
that  was  occasionally  fulfilled  at  masquerades.  But  I  was 
also  troubled  by  a  very  different  thought :  my  ideal  was  to 
see  myself  in  a  position  of  humiliation;  I  would  gladly 
have  been  a  slave j,  and  whipped;  in  short,  I  wished  to 
receive  the  treatment  that  one  finds  described  in  many 
stories  of  slavery.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  reading  of 
such  stories  gave  rise  to  my  wish,  or  whether  it  arose  spon- 
taneously. 

^^Puberty  began  at  the  age  of  thirteen;  with  the 
occurrence  of  ejaculation  lustful  pleasure  increased,  and  I 
masturbated  more  frequently,  often  two  or  three  times  a 
day.  From  my  twelfth  to  my  sixteenth  year,  during  the 
act  of  onanism,  I  always  had  the  idea  that  I  was  forced  to 
wear  girls'  boots.  The  sight  of  an  elegant  boot,  on  the 
foot  of  a  girl  at  all  pretty,  intoxicated  me;  I  inhaled  the 
odour  of  the  leather  with  avidity.  In  order  to  smell 
leather  during  the  act  of  onanism,  I  bought  a  pair  of 
leathern  cuffs,  which  I  smelled  while  I  masturbated.  My 
enthusiasm  for  ladies'  leathern  shoes  remains  the  same 
to-day;  only,  since  my  seventeenth  year,  it  has  been 
coupled  with  the  wish  to  become  a  servant,  to  blacken 
shoes  for  distinguished  ladies,  to  put  on  and  take  off  their 
shoes  for  them,  etc. 

'^My  dreams  at  night  are  made  up  of  shoe-scenes: 
either  I  stand  before  the  show-window  of  a  shoe-shop 
regarding  the  elegant  ladies'  shoes, — particularly  buttoned 
shoes, — or  I  lie  at  a  lady's  feet  and  smell  and  lick  her 
shoes.  For  about  a  year  I  have  given  up  onanism  and  go 
ad  puellas;  coitus  takes  place  by  means  of  intense  thought 
of  ladies'  buttoned  shoes ;  or,  if  necessary,  I  take  the  shoe 
of  the  puella  to  bed  with  me.  I  have  never  suffered  from 
Znv  former  onanism.    I  learn  easily,  have  a  good  memory. 


MASOCHISM. 


175 


and  have  never  had  a  headache  in  my  life.  This  much 
concerning  myself. 

"A  few  words  about  my  brother:  I  am  thoroughly 
convinced  that  he  is  also  a  shoe-fetichist.  Of  the  many 
facts  that  demonstrate  this  to  me,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
mention  that  it  is  a  great  pleasure  for  him  to  have  a  cer- 
tain cousin  (a  very  beautiful  girl)  tread  upon  him.  As  for 
the  rest,  I  might  undertake  to  tell  whether  a  man  who 
stands  before  a  shoe-shop  and  regards  the  shoes  on  exhibi- 
tion is  a  ^^foot-lover"  or  not.  This  anomaly  is  uncom- 
monly frequent.  When  in  the  circle  of  my  acquaintance 
I  turn  the  conversation  to  the  question  of  what  woman's 
charm  is,  I  very  frequently  hear  it  said  that  it  is  much 
more  in  attire  than  in  nudity ;  but  every  one  is  careful  not 
to  reveal  his  especial  fetich.  I  think  an  uncle  of  mine  is 
also  a  shoe-fetichist." 

Case  71.  Z.,  twenty-eight  years,  official,  comes  from 
neuropathic  mother.  Father  died  early;  as  to  his  family 
and  health  no  information  obtainable.  Z.  was  from  early 
childhood  nervous  and  impressionable;  began  early  to 
masturbate  on  his  own  accord;  with  puberty  he  became 
neurasthenic,  avoided  onanism  for  a  while,  but  was  trou- 
bled with  pollutions  very  frequently;  recovered  somewhat 
at  a  hydropathic  institute;  experienced  strong  libido  to- 
wards woman,  but  never  succeeded  in  coitus  partly  on  ac- 
count of  diffidence  in  his  power,  partly  from  fear  of  in- 
fection. This  upset  him  very  much,  especially  as  he  re- 
lapsed faute  de  mieux  into  his  secret  habit. 

Z.,  during  a  searching  consultation  about  his  vita  sex- 
ualis,  proved  to  be  fetichist  as  well  as  masochist,  and 
revealed  interesting  relations  between  these  two  anoma- 
lies. He  asserted  that  since  his  ninth  year  he  had  a  weak- 
ness for  women's  shoes.  This,  he  claimed,  was  caused  by 
seeing  at  that  time  a  lady  mounting  a  horse  whilst  an 
attendant  held  the  stirrup  for  her.  This  sight  excited  him 
very  much,  it  constantly  recurred  to  his  imagination,  ever 
increasing  his  lustful  feelings.    LatcT*  on  his  sensations 


176 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


during  pollution  were  connected  with  women  in  high 
boots.  Laced  boots  with  high  heels  charmed  him  most 
especially  when  this  idea  was  associated  with  the  lustful 
thought  that  a  woman  trod  upon  him  with  her  heel,  and 
that  he,  whilst  kneeling,  kissed  a  woman's  shoes.  The 
only  interesting  thing  about  a  woman  was  her  shoe.  Im- 
pressions of  odour  did  not  play  any  part  in  this.  The 
shoe  as  such  was  insufficient;  it  must  be  worn  by  woman. 
Whenever  he  saw  a  woman  with  laced  boots  he  became 
excited  and  masturbated.  He  believed  that  he  could  not 
command  virile  power  with  any  woman  unless  her  feet 
were  clad  with  laced  boots. 

Faute  de  mieux  he  made  a  drawing  of  such  a  boot,  and 
whilst  masturbating  revelled  in  gazing  at  it. 

The  following  case  is  not  only  instructive  because  of 
the  relations  shown  therein  to  exist  between  shoe-fetich- 
ism  and  masochism,  but  is  also  of  interest  on  account 
of  the  cure  of  the  vita  sexualis  brought  about  by  the 
patient  himself. 

Case  72.  Mr.  M.,  thirty-three  years  of  age,  of  good 
family,  which  on  the  maternal  side  for  generations  had 
shown  manifestations  of  psychical  degeneration,  extend- 
ing even  to  cases  of  moral  insanity.  The  mother  was 
neuropathic  and  characterologically  abnormal.  Himself 
strong,  well  built,  but  neuropathic;  began  as  a  small  boy 
to  practise  onanism  spontaneously.  When  twelve  years 
of  age  peculiar  dreams  of  being  tortured,  whipped  and 
kicked  by  men  and  women,  especially  by  the  latter.  When 
about  fourteen  a  weakness  for  women's  boots  came  over 
him.  They  caused  sexual  excitement;  he  was  forced  to 
kiss  and  press  them  to  him;  this  produced  erection  and 
orgasm,  followed  by  masturbation.  But  these  acts  were 
also  accompanied  by  masochistic  ideas  of  being  kicked 
and  tortured. 

He  recognized  that  his  viia  sexualis  was  abnormal, 
and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  sought  a  cure  in  coitus. 


MASOCHISM. 


177 


He  found  himself  quite  impotent.  At  eighteen  another 
attempt  proved  a  failure;  he  continued  masturbation 
assisted  by  shoe-fetichism  and  masochistic  fancies. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  heard  by  accident  a  man 
speak  of  flagellation  by  a  girl  as  a  means  to  bring  about 
virility.  He  now  felt  that  he  had  found  his  remedy,  and 
hastened  to  carry  out  the  advice  just  received,  but  was 
completely  disappointed.  The  whole  situation  disgusted 
him  so  thoroughly  that  no  erection  resulted. 

He  made  no  more  similar  attempts,  and  satisfied  him- 
self in  the  accustomed  manner.  When  he  was  twenty^ 
seven  he  met  by  accident  a  sympathetic  and  galante  girl, 
became  intimate,  and  complained  to  her  about  his  impo- 
tence. She  laughed  at  him,  and  said  that  at  his  age  and 
with  his  constitution  this  was  impossible. 

He  gained  self-confidence,  but  only  after  fourteen  days 
of  the  greatest  intimacy  and  with  the  aid  of  shoe-fetichism 
and  masochistic  fancies  he  obtained  power.  This  lasted 
several  months.  His  condition  improved,  he  could  do 
without  the  secret  aids,  and  his  abnormal  fancies  became 
latent.  Then  for  three  years,  on  account  of  psychical 
impotence  with  other  women,  he  yielded  again  to  mastur- 
bation and  his  former  fetichism.  With  his  thirtieth  year 
he  entered  again  upon  sympathetic  relations  with  another 
girl ;  but  as  he  felt  himself  incapable  of  coitus  without  the 
aid  of  masochistic  situations,  he  instructed  her  to  treat 
him  as  her  slave.  She  played  her  part  well,  made  him 
kiss  her  feet,  whipped  him  with  a  switch,  and  trod  upon 
him.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  He  only  felt  pain  and 
utter  confusion,  and  soon  had  these  assaults  discontinued. 
Ideal  masochistic  situations,  however,  aided  him  at  times 
to  accomplish  coitus. 

But  he  found  little  satisfaction  under  these  circum- 
stances. Then  he  came  across  my  book  on  ^Tsychopathia 
Sexualis,''  and  found  out  the  real  condition  of  his  anomaly. 
He  wrote  to  his  former  acquaintance  and  entered  again 
upon  intimate  relations  with  her,  but  told  her  definitely 
that  the  forjner  absurd  scenes  of  "slavery"  must  not  be 

12 


178 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


enacted  again,  and  that  under  no  circumstances,  even 
though  he  request  it  himself,  must  she  enter  upon  his 
masochistic  ideas. 

In  order  to  free  himself  of  shoe-fetichism  he  adopted 
the  following  plan.  He  bought  a  lady's  elegant  boot 
and  made  daily  these  suggestions  to  himself  whilst  kissing 
the  boot  repeatedly:  ^^Why  should  I  have  erections 
when  kissing  this  boot,  which  is  after  all  only  a  piece 
of  ordinary  leather?"  This  practice  little  by  little 
stripped  the  object  of  its  fetichistic  charm.  The  erections 
disappeared,  and  finally  the  boot  impressed  him  only  as 
a  boot.  Intimate  intercourse  with  the  sympathetic  per- 
son ran  parallel  with  this  suggestive  self-treatment,  and 
although  at  first  he  could  not  produce  virility  without  the 
assistance  of  masochistic  ideas,  these  latter  gradually; 
disappeared. 

He  was  so  pleased  with  his  cure  that  he  came  to  thank 
me  for  the  valuable  help  he  had  found  in  the  perusal  of 
my  book,  which  had  shown  him  the  right  way  to  remedy 
his  defect. 

Since  then  he  wrote  that  he  was  completely  cured, 
that  he  met  with  no  difiiculties  in  his  sexual  intercourse, 
although  from  time  to  time  masochistic  representations 
faintly  reappeared  without,  however,  leaving  any  im- 
pression on  his  mind. 

Case  73.  Reported  by  Mantegazza  in  his  ^^Anthropo- 
logical Studies,"  1886,  p.  110.  X.,  American,  of  good 
family,  mentally  and  morally  well  constituted;  from  the 
beginning  of  puberty  capable  of  being  excited  sexually 
only  by  a  woman's  shoe.  Her  body  and  naked  or 
stockinged  foot  made  no  impression  on  him;  but  the 
foot,  when  covered  with  the  shoe,  or  a  shoe  alone,  in- 
duced erection  and  even  ejaculation.  Sight  alone  was 
sufficient  for  him  in  the  case  of  elegant  shoes — i.e.j,  shoes 
of  black  leather,  buttoning  up  the  side  and  having  very 
high  heels.  His  sexual  desire  was  powerfully  excited  by 
touching,  kissing,  or  putting  such  shoes  on  kis  feet. 


MASOCHISM. 


179 


His  enjoyment  was  increased  by  driving  nails  through  the 
soles  so  that  their  points  would  penetrate  his  feet  while 
walking.  This  caused  him  terrible  pain,  but  he  had  real 
lustful  feeling  at  the  same  time.  His  greatest  enjoyment 
was  to  kneel  down  before  the  elegant  clad  feet  of  ladies 
and  have  them  step  on  him.  If  the  wearer  be  an  ugly 
woman,  the  shoes  would  not  affect  him,  and  his  fancy 
would  cool.  If  the  patient  had  empty  shoes  only  at  his 
disposal,  his  fancy  would  create  a  beautiful  woman  wear- 
ing them,  and  ejaculation  would  result.  His  nightly 
dreams  were  of  the  shoes  of  beautiful  women.  He  con- 
sidered the  exposure  of  ladies'  shoes  in  show-windows 
immoral,  while  talk  about  the  nature  of  woman  seemed 
to  him  harmless,  but  in  bad  taste.  X.  attempted  coitus 
several  times  without  success,  ejaculation  never  occurred. 

In  the  following  case  the  masochistic  as  well  as  the 
sadistic  element  is  in  evidence  (cf.  ^^Torture  of  Animals/' 
under  ^^Sadism")  : — 

Case  74.  A  young,  powerful  man,  aged  twenty-six. 
Nothing  in  the  opposite  sex  excited  his  sensual  feeling 
except  elegant  shoes  on  the  feet  of  a  buxom  woman,  es- 
pecially when  they  were  made  of  black  leather,  and  had 
high  heels.  The  shoes  without  the  wearer  were  suflSicient. 
It  gave  him  the  greatest  pleasure  to  see,  touch  and  kiss 
them.  The  feminine  foot,  when  bare  or  covered  with  a 
stocking,  had  no  effect  on  him.  Since  childhood  he  had 
a  weakness  for  ladies'  fine  shoes. 

X.  was  potent ;  during  the  sexual  act  the  female  must 
be  elegantly  dressed  and,  above  all,  have  on  pretty  shoes. 
At  the  height  of  sexual  excitement  cruel  thoughts  about 
the  shoes  arose.  He  was  forced  to  think  with  delight  of  the 
death  agonies  of  the  animal  from  which  the  leather  was 
taken.  Sometimes  he  was  impelled  to  take  chickens  and 
other  animals  with  him  to  Phryne,  in  order  to  have  her 
tread  on  them  with  her  pretty  shoes  for  his  pleasure.  He 
called  this  ^^sacrificing  to  the  feet  of  Venus."     At  other 


180 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


times  he  had  the  woman  walk  on  him  with  her  shoes  on, 
the  harder  the  better. 

Until  the  previous  year  it  was  sufficient — since  he 
did  not  take  the  slightest  sensual  pleasure  in  women — 
to  caress  ladies'  shoes  that  pleased  him,  thus  attaining 
ejaculation  and  complete  satisfaction  (LomhrosOj  ^^Arch.  di 
psichiatria/^  ix.,  fascic.  iii.). 

The  next  case  reminds  one  of  case  73,  on  account 
of  the  interest  in  the  nails  of  the  shoes  (as  capable  of 
inflicting  pain)  ;  and  of  74,  on  account  of  the  slight  ac- 
companying sadistic  element : — 

Case  75.  X.,  aged  thirty-four,  married;  of  neuro- 
pathic parentage;  suffered  severely  from  convulsions  as 
a  child;  remarkably  precocious,  but  one-sided  in  develop- 
ment (could  read  at  age  of  three)  ;  nervous  from  childhood. 
At  the  age  of  seven  he  manifested  an  inclination  to  finger 
shoes,  especially  the  nails  of  women's  shoes.  The  mere 
sight,  but  still  more  the  touching  of  the  shoe  nails  and 
counting  them,  gave  him  indescribable  pleasure. 

At  night  he  gave  himself  up  to  imagining  how  his 
cousins  had  their  measures  taken  for  shoes;  how  he 
nailed  horse-shoes  on  to  one  of  them  or  cut  her  feet  off. 
In  time  the  shoe-scenes  came  upon  him  during  the  day, 
and  involuntarily  induced  erection  and  ejaculation.  Fre- 
quently he  took  the  shoes  of  female  occupants  of  the 
house;  and  if  he  touched  them  with  his  penis  he  had  an 
ejaculation.  For  a  long  time,  when  a  student,  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  control  his  ideas  and  inclinations ;  but 
there  came  a  time  when  he  was  compelled  to  listen  to 
female  footsteps  on  the  pavement,  which,  like  the  sight 
of  the  nails  being  driven  into  ladies'  shoes,  or  the  sight 
of  shoes  in  the  windows  of  the  boot-shops,  always  swayed 
him  with  feelings  of  lustful  pleasure.  He  married,  and 
during  the  first  months  of  his  married  life  was  free  from 
these  desires.  Gradually  he  became  hysteropathic  and 
tieurasthenic. 


MASOCHISM. 


181 


At  this  stage  lie  began  to  have  hysterical  attacks  when 
the  shoemaker  spoke  to  him  of  nails  in  ladies'  shoes  or  of 
driving  nails  in  the  same.  The  reaction  was  still  greater 
if  he  chanced  to  see  a  pretty  lady  with  shoes  well  beset 
with  nails.  In  order  to  induce  ejaculation  it  was  only 
necessary  for  him  to  cut  soles  out  of  pasteboard  and  beset 
them  with  nails;  or  he  would  buy  ladies'  shoes,  have 
them  beset  with  nails  in  the  shop,  and  at  home  scrape 
them  on  the  ground,  and  finally  touch  them  with  the 
end  of  his  penis.  Moreover,  lustful  shoe-visions  occurred 
spontaneously,  in  which  he  satisfied  himself  by  masturba- 
tion. 

X.  was  otherwise  intelligent,  skilful  in  his  calling,  but 
powerless  in  combating  his  perverse  inclinations.  He 
presented  phimosis;  penis  short,  expanded  at  the  root,  and 
incapable  of  complete  erection.  One  day  the  patient 
allowed  himself  to  masturbate  when  excited  by  the  sight 
of  ladies'  shoes  beset  with  nails  in  front  of  the  window, 
of  a  shoe-shop,  and  thus  became  a  criminal  {Blanche 
''Archiv.  de  ITeurologie,"  1882,  'No.  22). 

Reference  may  be  made  here  to  a  case  of  inverted 
sexuality,  to  be  described  later.  Case  137,  in  which  the 
principal  sexual  interest  was  in  the  boots  of  male  servants. 
The  desire  was  to  be  trod  upon  by  them,  etc. 

Case  76.    (Dr.  Pascal  ''Igiene  dell'  amore".)  X., 

merchant;  from  time  to  time  (but  particularly  in  bad 
weather)  had  the  following  desire:  He  would  accost 
some  prostitute  and  ask  her  to  go  to  a  shoe-shop  with 
him,  where  he  would  buy  her  the  handsomest  pair  of 
shoes  made  of  patent  leather,  under  the  condition  that 
she  would  put  them  on  immediately.  When  this  had 
taken  place,  she  had  to  go  about  in  the  street,  walking 
in  manure  and  mud  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  to  soil 
the  shoes.  Then  X.  would  lead  the  person  to  a  hotel, 
and,  almost  before  they  had  reached  a  room,  he  would 
cast  himself  upon  her  feet,  feeling  an  extraordinary  plea- 


182 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sure  in  licking  them  with  his  lips.  "When  he  had  cleaned 
the  shoes  in  this  manner,  he  paid  her  and  went  his  way. 

From  these  cases  it  may  be  plainly  seen  that  the  shoe 
is  the  fetich  of  the  masochist,  and  apparently  because  of 
the  relation  of  the  dressed  female  foot  to  the  idea  of  being 
trod  upon  and  other  acts  of  humiliation.  When,  therefore, 
m  other  cases  of  shoe-fetichism,  the  female  shoe  appears 
alone  as  the  excitant  of  sexual  desire,  one  is  justified  in 
presuming  that  masochistic  motives  have  remained  latent. 
The  idea  of  being  trod  upon,  etc.,  remains  in  the  depths 
of  unconscious  life,  and  the  idea  of  the  shoe  alone,  the 
means  for  such  acts,  rises  into  consciousness.  Cases  which 
would  otherwise  remain  wholly  inexplicable  are  suffi- 
ciently explained.^  Here  one  has  to  do  with  latent  maso- 
chism which  may  always  be  assumed  as  the  unconscious 
motive,  when  not  infrequently  the  origin  of  the  fetichism 
can  be  proved  to  arise  from  an  association  of  ideas  with 
some  particular  event,  as  in  cases  113  and  114. 

Such  cases  of  desire  for  ladies'  shoes,  without  conscious 
motive  and  without  demonstrable  origin,  are  really  innu- 
merable.^   Three  cases  are  here  given  as  examples: — 

Case  77.  Minister,  aged  fifty.  From  time  to  time  he 
went  to  houses  of  prostitution  under  the  pretext  of  renting 
a  room.  He  entered  it  with  a  girl.  Then  he  lustfully 
regarded  her  shoes,  took  one  off,  osculatur  et  mordet  col- 
igam  libidine  captus.  Ad  genitalia  denique  caligam  pre- 
mit,  ejaculat  semen  semineque  ejaculato  exilian  pectusque 
terit;  then  he  awoke  from  his  sexual  ecstasy.  He  begged 
the  woman  to  allow  him  to  keep  the  shoe  for  a  few  days, 
and  always,  at  the  appointed  time,  returned  it  with  thanks 
(Cantaranot,  ^^La  Psichiatria,''  v.,  p.  205). 

*  Compare  the  instructive  case  of  Moll,  Libido  sexualis,  p.  320. 

^  There  is  apparently  a  connection  between  foot-fetichism  and 
the  fact  that  certain  persons  of  this  kind,  whom  coitus  does  not 
satisfy,  or  who  are  unable  to  perform  it,  find  a  substitute  for  it 
in  tritus  memhri  inter  pedes  mulieris. 


MASOCHISM. 


183 


Case  78,  Z.,  Student,  aged  twenty-three;  of  a 
tainted  family.  Sister  was  insane;  brother  suffered  with 
hysteria  virilis.  The  patient,  peculiar  from  childhood, 
had  frequent  attacks  of  hypochondriacal  depression,  tcedi- 
um  vitce,  and  felt  that  he  was  being  slighted.  In  a  con- 
sultation on  account  of  mental  trouble,  I  found  him  to  bo 
a  very  perverse  hereditarily  predisposed  man,  with  neu- 
rasthenic and  hypochondriacal  symptoms.  A  suspicion  of 
masturbation  was  confirmed.  Patient  made  interesting 
disclosures  concerning  his  vita  sexualis.  At  the  age  of  ten 
he  was  powerfully  attracted  by  the  foot  of  one  of  his  com- 
rades. At  twelve  he  became  an  enthusiast  for  ladies'  feet. 
It  gave  him  a  delightful  sensation  to  revel  in  the  sight  of 
them.  At  fourteen  he  began  to  masturbate,  thinking,  at 
the  same  time,  of  the  beautiful  foot  of  a  lady.  At  this 
time  he  revelled  in  the  sight  of  the  feet  of  his  three-year- 
old  sister.  The  feet  of  other  females  that  attracted  him 
induced  sexual  excitement.  Only  women's  feet — no  other 
part  of  them — interested  him.  The  thought  of  sexual 
intercourse  with  women  excited  his  disgust.  He  had  never 
attempted  coitus.  After  his  twelfth  year  he  had  no  interest 
in  the  feet  of  male  individuals.  The  style  of  covering 
of  the  female  foot  was  indifferent  to  him;  it  was  only 
necessary  that  the  person  seemed  to  be  sympathetic.  The 
thought  of  enjoying  the  feet  of  prostitutes  was  disgusting 
to  him.  For  years  he  had  been  in  love  with  his  sister's 
feet.  If  he  could  but  obtain  her  shoes,  the  sight  of  them 
powerfully  excited  his  sensuality.  Kissing  or  embracing 
his  sister  did  not  have  this  effect.  His  greatest  delight 
was  to  embrace  and  kiss  the  foot  of  a  sympathetic  woman, 
when  ejaculation  would  result  with  a  lively  pleasurable 
sensation.  Often  he  was  impelled  to  touch  his  genitals 
with  one  of  his  sister's  shoes;  but  he  had  been  able,  thus 
far,  to  master  this  impulse,  especially  for  the  reason  that 
for  two  years  (owing  to  progressive  irritable  weakness  of 
the  genitals)  the  simple  sight  of  the  foot  had  induced 
ejaculation.  From  his  relatives  it  was  ascertained  that 
ihe  patient  had  a  silly  admiration  for  the  feet  of  his  sister ; 


184 


PSYOHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


SO  that  she  avoided  him  and  sought  to  hide  her  feet  from 
him.  The  patient  looked  upon  his  perverse  sexual  impulse 
as  pathological,  and  was  painfully  affected  by  the  fact  that 
his  vile  fancy  had  for  its  object  his  sister's  foot.  He 
avoided  opportunity  as  much  as  he  could,  and  sought  to 
help  the  matter  by  masturbation  when,  as  in  dreams 
accompanied  by  pollution,  ladies'  feet  filled  his  imagina- 
tion. However,  when  the  impulse  became  too  powerful 
he  could  not  avoid  gaining  a  partial  sight  of  his  sister's 
foot.  Immediately  after  ejaculation  he  would  become 
angry  with  himself  at  having  been  weak  again.  His 
partiality  for  his  sister's  foot  had  cost  him  many  a  sleep- 
less night.  He  often  wondered  that  he  could  still  love 
his  sister.  Although  it  seemed  right  to  him  that  she 
should  conceal  her  feet  from  him,  yet  he  was  often 
irritated  because  the  concealment  caused  him  to  have 
pollutions.  The  patient  gave  assurances,  confirmed  by 
his  relatives,  of  being  moral  in  other  respects. 

Case  7Q.  S.,  ISTew  York,  was  accused  of  being  a 
street-thief.  ISTumerous  cases  of  insanity  in  his  ancestry: 
father,  brother  and  sister  mentally  abnormal.  At  seven 
years,  violent  cerebral  concussion  twice.  At  thirteen, 
struck  by  a  beam.  At  fourteen  S.  had  violent  attacks  of 
headache.  Accompanying  these  attacks,  or  immediately 
after  them,  peculiar  impulse  to  take  the  shoes  of  female 
members  of  the  family — as  a  rule,  only  one  at  a  time — 
and  hide  them  in  some  out-of-the  way  corner.  Taken  to 
task,  he  would  lie,  or  declare  that  he  had  no  recollection 
of  the  affair.  The  passion  for  shoes  was  unconquerable, 
and  made  its  appearance  every  three  or  four  months. 
On  one  occasion  he  attempted  to  take  a  shoe  from  the 
foot  of  one  of  the  servants,  and  on  another  he  stole  his 
sister's  shoe  from  her  bedroom.  In  the  spring  two  ladies 
had  their  shoes  torn  from  their  feet  in  the  open  street. 
In  August,  S.  left  his  home  early  in  the  morning  to  go 
to  his  work  as  a  printer.  A  moment  afterwards  he  tore 
the  shoe  from  a  girl's  foot  in  the  open  street,  fled  to  his 


MASOCHISM. 


185 


place  of  work,  and  there  was  arrested  as  a  street-thief. 
He  declared  that  he  did  not  know  much  of  his  act ;  that 
it  had  come  upon  him  like  a  stroke  of  lightningj  at  the 
sight  of  the  shoe,  that  he  must  possess  himself  of  it,  but 
for  what  purpose  he  did  not  know.  He  had  acted  while 
in  a  state  of  unconsciousness.  The  shoe,  as  he  correctly 
indicated,  was  found  in  his  coat.  In  confinement  he  was 
so  much  excited  mentally  that  an  outbreak  of  insanity 
was  feared.  Discharged,  he  stole  his  wife's  shoes  while 
she  was  asleep.  His  moral  character  and  habits  of  life 
were  blameless.  He  was  an  intelligent  workman;  but 
irregularity  of  employment,  that  soon  followed,  made  him 
confused  and  incapable  of  work.  Pardoned  (Nichols, 
^'Am.  Journal  of  Insanity,'^  1859;  Beck^  ^'Med.  Jurispru- 
dence," vol.  i.,  p.  Y32,  1860). 

Dr.  Pascal  (op.  cit.)  has  some  similar  cases,  and  many 
others  have  been  mentioned  to  me  by  colleagues  and 
patients. 

(c)Disgusiing  Acts  for  the  Purpose  of  Self-Humiliation 
and  Sexual  Gratification — Latent  Masochism — Kopro- 
lagnia. 

Whilst  in  the  manifestations  thus  far  described  the 
aesthetic  sentiment  is  at  least,  so  far  as  appearances  go, 
saved,  and  the  lustful  situation  is  kept  within  the  confines 
of  a  symbolic  or  ideal  character,  there  are  many  cases  in 
which  the  desire  for  sexual  gratification  by  self-humilia- 
tion before  woman  finds  expression  in  acts  which  defile  the 
moral  and  aesthetic  feeling  of  the  normal  man. 

Impressions  obtained  through  the  senses  of  smell  and 
taste,  which  in  the  normal  man  produce  only  feelings 
of  nausea  and  disgust,  are  made  the  basis  of  the  most 
vivid  emotions  of  lust,  producing  in  the  perverse  subject 
mighty  impulses  to  orgasm  and  even  ejaculation. 

An  analogy  with  the  excesses  of  religious  enthusiasm 
can  be  even  traced.    The  religious  enthusiast,  Antoinette 


186 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Bouvignon  de  la  Porte,  used  to  mix  with  her  food  excreta 
in  order  to  mortify  herself  (Zimmermann,  op,  cit.j,  p.  124). 
The  beatified  Marie  Alacoque  licked  up  with  her  tongue 
the  excrement  of  sick  people  to  ^^mortify"  herself,  and 
sucked  their  festering  toes.  The  analogy  with  sadism  is 
also  of  interest  in  this  connection  because  here  also  mani- 
festations in  the  sense  of  vampyrism  and  anthropophagy 
arising  from  disgusting  appetites  of  the  organs  of  taste 
and  olfaction  produce  lustful  feelings  (cf.  case  59,  Bichel, 
Menesclou,  f.  Beob.  18,  19,  20,  22).  This  impulse  to  dis- 
gusting acts  might  well  be  named  koprolagnia.  Its 
relations  to  Masochism  (as  a  subordinate  form)  have  been 
indicated  in  case  51.  The  subsequent  observation  will 
render  them  clearer. 

In  some  cases  it  would  appear  as  if  the  masochistic 
element  were  unknown  to  the  perverse  subject  and  the 
instinct  for  nauseating  acts  alone  were  present  (latent 
masochism).  A  striking  instance  of  masochistic  kopro- 
lagnia  (combined  with  perverse  sexuality)  may  be  found  in 
case  114  of  the  eighth  edition  of  this  work.  The  subject 
of  this  case  revels  not  only  in  the  thought  of  being  the 
slave  of  the  beloved,  referring  for  this  purpose  to  Sacher- 
Masoch's  ^^Venus  in  Furs,''  sed  etiam  sibi  fingit  amatum 
poscere  ut  crepidas  sudor e  diffluent es  olfaciat  ej usque  ster- 
core  vescatur,  Deinde  narrate  quia  non  hdbeat^  quce  con- 
fingat  et  exoptet,  eorum  loco  suas  crepidas  sudore  infectas 
olfacere  suoque  stercore  vesci,  inter  quce  facta  pene  erecto 
se  voluptate  perturbari  semenque  ejaculari. 

Case  80.  Masochism — Koprolagnia. — Z.,  fifty-two 
years  of  age;  high  position;  father  phthisical;  family 
claimed  to  be  untainted;  always  nervous,  only  child,  de- 
posed to  have  had  peculiar  emotions  since  he  was  seven., 
when  by  chance  he  saw  the  servants  take  off  their  boots 
and  stockings  preparatory  to  scrubbing  the  floors  of  the 
house.  Once  he  begged  one  of  the  maids  to  show  him  her 
toes  and  feet  before  she  washed  them.  When  he  began 
going  to  school  and  reading  books,  he  felt  forcibly  drawn 


MASOCHISM. 


187 


to  literature  whicli  contained  descriptions  of  refined  cruelty 
and  tortures,  especially  when  they  were  executed  at  the  de- 
mands of  women.  He  simply  devoured  novels  dealing 
with  slavery  and  bondage,  and  whilst  reading  them,  he 
became  so  excited  that  he  began  masturbation.  What 
excited  him  most  was  to  imagine  that  he  was  the  slave 
of  a  pretty  young  lady  of  his  acquaintance  who  allowed 
him  after  a  long  walk,  pedes  lambere^^  prcecipue  plautas  et 
spatia  inter  digitos.  He  thought  of  the  young  lady  as 
particularly  cruel  and  enjoying  tortures  and  whippings 
meted  out  to  him.  These  fancies  were  accompanied  by 
masturbation.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  whilst  revelling  in 
such  fiction,  he  let  a  poodle  dog  lick  his  feet.  One  day 
he  noticed  how  a  pretty  servant  girl  in  his  own  home 
let  a  poodle  dog  lick  her  toes  whilst  she  was  reading. 
This  caused  in  him  erection  and  ejaculation.  He  per- 
suaded the  girl  to  let  this  happen  frequently  whilst  he 
looked  on.  After  a  while  he  took  the  place  of  the  poodle 
and  ejaculated  every  time. 

From  his  fifteenth  to  his  eighteenth  year  he  was  at 
a  boarding-school  and  had  no  opportunity  for  practising 
such  evil  habits.  He  was  satisfied  to  excite  himself  every 
few  weeks  with  the  perusal  of  literature  treating  on  cruel- 
ties committed  by  women,  imagining  all  the  time  that  he 
was  licking  the  feet  of  such  women.  This  produced 
ejaculation  accompanied  by  the  highest  lustful  excitement. 
The  female  organs  had  never  any  attraction  for  him,  and 
he  never  felt  sexually  drawn  towards  men.  When  he  had 
attained  puberty  he  solicited  girls  and  had  coitus  with 
them,  but  always  sucked  their  feet  before  the  act.  He 
would  do  this  also,  inter  actum,  and  asked  the  girls  to  tell 
him  with  what  cruelties  they  would  afflict  him  in  case 
he  did  not  lick  their  toes  quite  clean.  Z.  affirms  that  he 
very  often  succeeded  in  this,  and  that  the  whole  action 
was  always  pleasing  to  the  girls. 

^This  disgusting  impulse  is  also  referred  to  in  case  68  of  the 
eighth  edition  of  this  work.  It  seems  to  occur  especially  with 
koprolagnists  and  fetichists. 


188 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


He  was  especially  attracted  by  tlie  feet  of  well-bred 
women  that  were  deformed  by  narrow  boots  and  had  not 
been  washed  for  several  days,  but  he  could  stomach  only 
^^slight,  natural  deposits,  such  as  one  may  find  upon  the 
feet  of  clean  well-bred  ladies,  also  discolorations  from  the 
stockings,  whilst  sweating  feet  excited  him  only  in  imagin- 
ation, but  in  reality  disgusted  him".  ^^Cruel  tortures'^ 
also  existed  for  him  only  in  imagination  as  a  means  to 
excitement;  he  abhorred  them  and  never  craved  for  them 
in  reality.  ITevertheless  they  played  a  pre-eminent  part 
in  his  fancy,  and  he  never  neglected  to  instruct  the  women 
with  whom  he  kept  in  masochistic  touch  how  they  were 
to  write  him  threatening  letters.  From  the  collection  of 
such  letters  placed  at  my  disposal  by  Z.  one  is  given  here 
because  it  clearly  illustrates  the  line  of  thought  and 
sentiment : — 

''Lambitor  sudoris  pedum  mulierum!  I  take  the  ut- 
most delight  in  conjuring  up  the  moment  when  you  will 
lick  my  toes,  especially  after  a  long  walk.  A  facsimile  of 
my  foot  I  shall  send  you  soon.  It  will  intoxicate  me  like 
nectar  when  you  will  lick  up  my  sudor  pedum.  And  if  you 
will  not  do  it  voluntarily,  I  shall  force  you  to  it;  I  shall 
treat  you  as  my  meanest  slave.  Tou  shall  witness  how 
another  favoritus  sudorem  pedum  mihi  lamhit,  whilst  you 
shall  whine  like  a  dog  under  the  lashes  of  my  servants. 
I  shall  declare  you  outlawed.  I  shall  find  the  most 
exquisite  pleasure  in  seeing  you  in  pain,  breathing  your 
last  under  the  most  cruel  tortures,  licking  my  toes  in 
extreme  agony.  .  .  .  You  challenge  my  cruelty — very 
well,  I  shall  crush  you  under  my  foot  like  a  worm.  .  .  . 
You  ask  me  for  a  stocking?  I  shall  wear  it  longer  than 
usual.  But  I  demand  that  you  kiss  it  and  lick  it ;  that  you 
soak  the  foot  of  it  in  water  and  then  drink  the  latter. 
If  you  do  not  carry  out  my  pleasure  absolutely,  I  shall 
chastise  you  with  my  riding- whip.  I  demand  uncon- 
ditional obedience.  If  you  do  not  obey,  I  shall  have  you 
whipped  with  the  knout,  I  shall  make  you  walk  over 
a  floor  well-spiked  with  sharp  nails,  I  shall  have  you 


MASOCHISM. 


189 


bastinaded  and  cast  to  the  lions  in  the  cage.  It  will 
give  me  the  utmost  delight  to  see  how  the  wild  beasts 
enjoy  your  flesh. 

In  spite  of  such  ridiculous  tirades,  ordered  by  himself, 
Z.  looked  upon  them  as  a  means  to  satisfy  his  perverse 
sexuality.  These  sexual  monstrosities,  which  to  him  were 
only  a  congenital  anomaly,  he  did  not  consider  unnatural, 
although  he  admitted  them  to  be  disgusting  to  the  nor- 
mally constituted  man.  Otherwise  he  appeared  to  be  a 
decent  sort  of  a  man  with  rather  refined  manners,  but  his 
otherwise  meagre  aesthetic  sentiments  were  overbalanced  by 
sensuality  which  gratified  his  perverse  desires. 

Z.  gave  me  an  insight  into  his  correspondence  with 
the  literary  champion  of  masochism,  Sacher-Masoch. 

One  of  these  letters,  dated  1888,  shows  as  a  heading 
the  picture  of  a  luxuriant  woman,  with  imperial  bearing, 
only  half  covered  with  furs  and  holding  a  riding-whip  as 
if  ready  to  strike.  Sacher-Masoch  contends  that  ^^the 
passion  to  play  the  slave"  is  widespread,  especially  among 
the  Germans  and  Russians.  In  this  letter,  the  history  of 
a  noble  Russian  is  related  who  loved  to  be  tied  and 
whipped  by  several  beautiful  women.  One  day  he  found 
his  ideal  in  a  pretty  young  French  woman  and  took  her 
to  his  home. 

According  to  Sacher-Masoch,  a  Danish  woman  yielded 
her  favour  to  no  man  until  he  acted  the  part  of  slave  to 
her  for  a  considerable  time.  Amantes  coagere  solehat,  ut 
pedes  suos  et  podicem  lambeant.  She  had  her  adorers  put 
in  chains  and  whipped  until  they  obeyed  her  lambendo 
pedes.  Once  she  had  the  ^^slave"  fastened  to  her  bed- 
posts and  thus  made  him  witness  her  granting  the  highest 
favour  to  another.  After  the  latter  left  her  she  had  the 
fettered  ^^slave"  whipped  by  her  servants  until  he  yielded 
lambere  podicem  dominoe. 

If  these  assertions  were  true  which,  of  course,  cannot 
be  accepted  from  the  poet  without  definite  proof,  they 
would  constitute  remarkable  proofs  of  sadismus  femina- 
rum.    At  any  rate  they  are  psychologically  interesting  in- 


190 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


stances  of  thoughts  and  sentiments  specific  to  masochism 
(my  own  observations,  ^^Centralblatt  fiir  Krankheiten  der 
Harn-  und  Sexualorgane/'  vi.,  7). 

Case  81.  Z.,  aged  twenty-four;  Eussian  civil  serv- 
ant; mother  neuropathic,  father  psychopathic.  Z.  was  in- 
telligent, of  refined  manners,  physically  normal,  of  pleas- 
ing appearance  and  aesthetic  tastes ;  never  had  a  severe  ill- 
ness. Claimed  to  have  been  of  a  nervous  disposition  from 
infancy ;  had  like  his  mother  neuropathic  eyes  and  latterly 
suffered  from  cerebral  asthenic  troubles.  Perversio  vitoe 
sexualis  caused  him  much  worry,  bordering  on  despair, 
deprived  him  of  self-esteem  and  tempted  him  to  suicide. 

What  oppressed  him  was  the  unnatural  desire  recurring 
every  four  weeks  for  mictio  mulieris  in  os  suum.  As  cause 
he  gave  the  following  facts,  interesting  on  account  of 
their  genetic  importance.  When  six  years  of  age  he  put 
his  hand  by  accident  sub  podicem  puellce  who  sat  next  to 
him  in  school.  This  caused  him  pleasure  and  he  repeatedly 
did  so.  The  memory  of  these  pleasant  situations  strongly 
aroused  his  fancy. 

Puerum  decern  annorum  serva  educatrix  libidine  mota 
ad  corpus  suum  appressit  et  digitum  ejus  in  vaginam  intro- 
duxit.  Quum  postea  fortuitu  digito  nasum  tetigit,  odore 
ejus  valde  delectatus  fuit. 

This  immoral  act  developed  into  a  lustful  fancy  which 
made  him  believe  vinctus  inter  femora  mulieris  cumbere, 
coactus,  ut  dormiat  sub  ejus  podice  et  ut  bibat  ejus  urinam. 

With  the  thirteenth  year  these  fictions  disappeared. 
At  fifteen  first  coitus,  at  sixteen  second,  quite  normal  and 
without  fanciful  representations. 

Deficiente  pecunia  et  magna  libidine  perturbatus  mas- 
turbatione  eam  satiabat. 

At  seventeen  perverse  ideas  recurred.  They  became 
more  powerful  and  he  struggled  against  them  in  vain. 

At  eighteen  he  yielded  to  the  impulse.  Quum 
mulier  qucedam  in  os  ei  minxit,  maxima  voluptate  affectus 
est.   He  then  had  coitus  with  the  vile  woman.   Since  then^ 


MASOCHISM. 


191 


he  felt  the  necessity  to  repeat  the  disgusting  act  every  foiiT' 
weeks. 

After  indulging  in  this  perverse  action  he  was  ashamed 
of  himself  and  disgust  overcame  him.  Ejaculations  ac- 
companied the  act  but  seldom,  but  it  produced  erections 
and  orgasm  and  whenever  ejaculation  missed,  he  gratified 
himself  with  coitus. 

During  the  intervals  between  these  excessive  impulses 
he  was  quite  free  from  perverse  thoughts  and  desires  as 
well  as  from  ideal  masochism  and  fetichistic  relations. 
Libido  during  these  intervals  was  but  slight  and  easily 
gratified  in  the  normal  fashion  without  the  assistance  of 
perverse  fiction.  He  often  travelled  miles  from  his  coun- 
try seat  to  the  city  to  satisfy  his  cravings  when  these  spells 
came  over  him. 

Again  and  again  the  patient — refined  as  he  was  and 
disgusted  with  his  own  perversity — sought  to  resist  the 
morbid  impulse,  but  in  vain;  restlessness,  anxiety,  trem- 
bling and  somnolence  made  life  unbearable,  until  he 
found  final  release  from  the  psychical  tension  in  the  grat- 
ification of  his  morbid  cravings  at  any  price.  He  attained 
this  easily,  but  was  at  once  overcome  with  self-reproach 
and  contempt  for  himself  bordering  even  on  tcedium  vitce. 
These  mental  struggles  enervated  the  patient  and  he  com- 
plained of  debility  of  memory,  absent  -mindedness,  mental 
impotence,  and  cerebral  pressure.  His  last  hope  was  that 
medical  science  might  succeed  in  freeing  him  from  this 
monstrous  affliction  and  in  re-establishing  his  moral  self. 

Case  82.  Masochism  —  Fetichism  —  Koprolagnia. 
B.,  aged  thirty-one,  official,  family  neuropathically  tainted, 
nervous  from  early  childhood,  weakly,  nocturnal  frights. 
First  pollution  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  At  seventeen  fell 
in  love  with  a  French  woman,  twenty-eight  years  old  and 
anything  but  pretty.  Had  a  special  weakness  for  her 
shoes.  Whenever  he  could  do  so  without  being  observed, 
he  would  cover  them  with  kisses.  This  gave  him  sensual 
delights;  but  it  never  caused  ejaculation.    At  that  time 


192 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXXJALIS. 


according  to  his  statement,  he  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
difference  in  sexes.  He  could  not  understand  his  weakness 
for  shoes.  After  he  attained  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  had 
coitus  about  once  a  month,  but  did  not  derive  psychical 
gratification  from  the  act.  One  day  he  met  a  prostitute 
in  the  street  whose  haughty  demeanor,  fascinating  eye  and 
challenging  mien  made  a  peculiar  impression  on  him.  He 
felt  an  impulse  to  throw  himself  at  her  feet,  kiss  them,  and 
follow  her  like  a  dog  or  slave.  Her  ^ ^majestic''  feet  clad 
in  patent  leather  boots  especially  captivated  him.  He 
trembled  with  voluptuous  excitement.  During  the  night 
he  could  not  find  sleep  for  the  thought  of  the  woman 
haunted  him.  He  imagined  that  he  was  kissing  this 
woman's  feet.  This  fancy  superinduced  ejaculation.  Shy 
by  nature,  he  now  resorted  to  psychical  masturbation,  and 
having  a  dislike  for  prostitutes,  he  shunned  henceforth  the 
society  of  women  altogether.  He  revelled  in  the  thought 
of  the  pretty  foot  of  an  imperious  woman  and  associated 
this  thought  with  the  olfactory  impression  he  would  re- 
ceive from  its  proximity.  In  erotic  dreams  he  would  fol- 
low such  women.  Rain  would  begin  to  fall  and  the  woman 
raising  her  skirts  would  show  her  pretty  foot,  ankle  and 
calf,  encased  in  a  silken  stocking.  As  soon  as  he  grasped 
and  fondled  the  warm  form,  so  soft  and  yet  so  firm,  he 
would  ejaculate.  On  rainy  days  he  u%ed  to  patrol  the  streets 
to  see  such  scenes  in  reality.  If  he  saw  what  he  came  for 
he  would  carry  away  the  impression  in  his  memory  and 
it  became  the  object  of  his  nightly  dreams  and  acts  of 
psychical  masturbation.  To  hasten  the  act  he  would  sniff 
his  own  socks,  kiss,  bite  and  chew  them.  His  dreams  and 
libidinous  ecstasies  were  also  mingled  with  fancies  of  a 
purely  masochistic  character,  e.g.,  a  woman  but  slightly 
clad  stood  in  front  of  him  holding  a  whip  in  her  hand, 
whilst  he  knelt  at  her  feet  like  a  slave.  She  would  cut 
him  with  the  whip,  put  her  foot  on  his  neck,  face  or  mouth, 
till  he  consented  secretum  inter  digitos  nudos  pedis  ejus 
bene  olans  exsugere.  During  this  mental  act  he  would 
smell  of  his  own  feet^  the  odor  of  which  was  repulsive  to 


MASOCHISM. 


193 


him  when  in  his  normal  state.  He  would  vary  these  prac- 
tices with  acts  of  ^^podexfetichism"  by  using  a  girFs 
drawers  et  stercus  proprium  naribus  appositum.  At  other 
times  the  cunnus  femince  would  be  his  fetich  and  he  would 
practise  ideal  cunnilingus.  For  assistance  he  would  use 
pieces  cut  from  the  armpits  of  a  woman's  undervest,  or 
stockings,  or  shoes.  After  six  years,  during  which  neu- 
rasthenia had  increased  whilst  the  imaginative  power 
bad  waned,  he  lost  all  power  to  accomplish  these 
acts  of  psychical  onanism  and  came  down  to  the 
level  of  a  common  masturbator.  He,  later  on,  be- 
came acquainted  with  a  girl  of  a  similar  masochistic  ten- 
dency, and  coitus  became  possible  for  both,  but  always 
by  having  recourse  to  some  masochistic  situation.  But  the 
old  fetichistic  fascinations  reappeared  and  he  found 
greater  pleasures  in  appeasing  this  perverse  appetite  than 
in  coitus,  which  he  performed  only  honoris  causa.  The 
end  of  this  cynical  sexual  existence  was  a  marriage — after 
his  mistress  had  forsaken  him — with  a  woman  who  had 
the  same  perverse  inclinations  as  himself.  They  had  chil- 
dren, but  found  sexual  gratification  chiefly  in  masochistic 
marital  acts.  (Centralblatt  fiir  Krankheiten  der  Harn- 
und  Sexual  organe,  vi.,  7.) 

Other  cases  of  CaMarano's  (loc,  cU.)  belong  here  (mic- 
tio  even  defceceutio  puellce  ad  linguam  viri  ante  actum)  con- 
sumption of  confects  smelling  like  fseces,  in  order  to  be- 
come potent;  and  also  the  following  case,  likewise  com- 
municated to  me  by  a  physician: — 

"A  Russian  prince,  who  was  very  decrepit,  was  ac- 
customed to  have  his  mistress  turn  her  back  to  him  and 
defecate  on  his  breast;  this  being  the  only  way  in  which 
he  could  excite  the  remnant  of  libido/^ 

Another  supported  a  mistress  in  unusually  brilliant 
style,  with  the  condition  that  she  ate  marchpane  exclu- 
sively. Ut  libidinosu^  fiat  et  ejaculare  possit  excrementa 
femince  ore  excipit.    A  Brazilian  physician  tells  me  of 

13 


IM 


PSYCHOPkTHIA  SEXUALIS. 


several  cases  of  defcecatio  femince  in  os  viri  that  have  came 
to  his  knowledge.  Such  cases  occur  everywhere,  and  are 
not  at  all  infrequent.  All  kinds  of  secretions — saliva, 
nasal  mucus,  and  even  aural  cerumen — are  used  in  this 
way  and  swallowed  with  pleasure ;  and  oscula  ad  nates  and 
even  ad  anum  are  indulged  in.  Dr.  Moll  {op.  cit.,  p.  135) 
reports  the  same  thing  of  a  man  affected  with  inverted 
sexuality.  The  perverse  desire  to  practise  cunnilingus, 
which  is  very  wide-spread,  probably  has  its  root  frequently 
in  masochistic  impulses. 

Evidently  the  case  quoted  by  Cantarano  ("La  Psichia- 
tria,'^  v.,  p.  207)  belongs  here  also,  in  which  coitus  is 
preceded  by  morsus  et  succio  of  the  woman's  toes  which 
have  not  been  washed  for  some  time.  Also  a  case  quoted 
by  me  in  the  eighth  edition  of  this  book,  cf.  ibid,,  case  68. 

Stefanowsky  ('^Archives  de  T Anthropologic  crimi- 
nelle,"  1892,  vol.  vii.)  knows  of  a  Russian  merchant  qui 
valde  delectatus  fuit  hibendo  ae  quce  puella  lupanarii  jusso 
suo  in  vas  spuerunt. 

Neri,  ^^Archivio  delle  psicopatie  sessuali,"  p.  198 : 
Workman,  aged  twenty-seven,  heavily  tainted,  tic  in  the 
face,  troubled  with  phobia  (especially  agoraphobia)  and 
alcoholism.  Summa  ei  fit  voluptas,  si  meretrices  in  os  ejus 
fceces  et  urinas  deponunt.  Vinum  supra  corpus  scortorum 
effusum  defluens  ore  ad  meretricis  cunnum  adposito  excipit, 
Valde  delectatur,  si,  sanguinem  menstrualem  ex  vagina  ef- 
fluentem  sugere  potest.  He  is  f  etichist  of  ladies'  gloves  and 
slippers,  osculatur  calceos  sororis,  cujus  pedes  sudore  ma- 
dent,  Lihido  ejus  turn  demun  maxime  satiatur,  si  a  puellis 
insultatur,  immo  vero  verberatur,  ut  sanguis  exeat,  Dum 
verberatur,  genibus  nixus  veniam  et  clementiam  puellce 
expetit,  deinde  masturbare  incipit. 

Pelanda  (^^Archivio  di  Psichiatria,"  x.,  fascicolo  3,  4) 
relates  the  following  case : — 

Case  83.  W.,  aged  forty-five,  predisposed,  was  given 
to  masturbation  at  the  age  of  eight.    A  decimo  sexto  anno 


MASOCHISM. 


195 


libidines  suas  hibendo  recentem  feminarum  urinam  satia- 
vit,  Tanta  erat  voluptas  urinam  bibentis  ut  nec  aliquid 
olfaceret  nec  saperet,  hcec  faciens.  After  drinking  he  al- 
ways experienced  disgust  and  ill-feeling,  and  made  firm 
resolutions  to  do  it  no  more  in  the  future.  Once  he  had 
the  same  pleasure  in  drinking  the  urine  of  a  nine-year-old 
boy,  with  whom  he  once  practised  fellatio.  The  patient 
suffered  from  epileptic  insanity. 

Still  older  cases  belong  here,  which  Tardieu  (^^Etude 
medico-legale  sur  les  attentats  aux  moeurs,"  p.  206)  ob- 
served in  senile  individuals.  He  describes  as  ^^Renifleurs'^ 
persons  ^'qui  in  secretos  locos  nimirum  theatrorum  porticos 
convenientes  quo  complures  femince  ad  micturiendum  fes- 
tinant,  per  nares  urinali  odore  excitati,  illico  se  invicem 
polluunt".  The  ^^Stercoraires''  that  Taxil  (^^La  prostitu- 
tion contemporaine'')  mentions  are,  in  relation  to  this 
subject,  unique. 

Eulenburg  relates  further  monstrous  facts  belonging  to 
this  section.  Cf.  Ziilzers  '^Klin.  Handbuch  der  Harn- 
und  Sexualorgane,"  iv.,  p.  47. 

(d)  Masochism  in  Woman. 

In  woman  voluntary  subjection  to  the  opposite  sex  is 
a  physiological  phenomenon.  Owing  to  her  passive  role 
in  procreation  and  long-existent  social  conditions,  ideas  of 
subjection  are,  in  woman,  normally  connected  with  the 
idea  of  sexual  relations.  They  form,  so  to  speak,  the 
harmonics  which  determine  the  tone-quality  of  feminine 
feeling. 

Any  one  conversant  with  the  history  of  civilisation 
knows  in  what  a  state  of  absolute  subjection  woman  was 
always  kept  until  a  relatively  high  degree  of  civilisation 
was  reached;^  and  an  attentive  observer  of  life  may  still 

^  The  laws  of  the  early  middle  ages  gave  the  husband  the  right 
to  kill  the  wife;  those  of  the  later  middle  ages,  the  right  to  beat 
her.    The  latter  right  was  used  freely,  even  by  those  of  high  stand- 


196 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


easily  recognise  how  the  custom  of  unnumibered  genera- 
tions,  in  connection  with  the  passive  role  with  which 
woman  has  been  endowed  by  Nature,  has  given  her  an 
instinctive  inclination  to  voluntary  subordination  to  man; 
he  will  notice  that  exaggeration  of  customary  gallantry 
is  very  distasteful  to  women,  and  that  a  deviation  from 
it  in  the  direction  of  masterful  behaviour,  though  loudly 
reprehended,  is  often  accepted  with  secret  satisfaction.^ 
Under  the  veneer  of  polite  society  the  instinct  of  feminine 
servitude  is  everywhere  discernible. 

Thus  it  is  easy  to  regard  masochism  in  general  as 
a  pathological  growth  of  specific  feminine  mental  ele- 
ments,— as  an  abnormal  intensification  of  certain  features 
of  the  psycho-sexual  character  of  woman, — and  to  seek  its 
primary  origin  in  that  sex  (v.  infra,  p.  199).  It  may,  how- 
ever, bo  held  to  be  established  that,  in  woman,  an  inclina- 
tion to  subordination  to  man  (which  may  be  regarded  as 
an  acquired,  purposeful  arrangement,  a  phenomenon  of 
adaptation  to  social  requirements)  is  to  a  certain  extent  a 
normal  manifestation. 

The  reason  that,  under  such  circumstances,  the 
^^poetry"  of  the  symbolic  act  of  subjection  is  n^ot  reached, 
lies  partly  in  the  fact  that  man  has  not  the  vanity  of  that 
weakling  who  w^ould  improve  the  opportunity  by  the  dis- 
play of  his  power  (as  the  ladies  of  the  middle  ages  did 
towards  the  love-serving  knights),  but  prefers  to  realise 
solid  advantages.  The  barbarian  has  his  wife  plough  for 
him,  and  the  civilised  lover  speculates  about  her  dowry; 
she  willingly  endures  both. 

Oases  of  pathological  increase  of  this  instinct  of  sub- 
jection, in  the  sense  of  feminine  masochism,  are  probably 

ing  {cf.  Schultzef  "Das  hofische  Leben  zur  Zeit  des  Minnesangs,"  Bd. 
i.,  p.  163  et  seq.).  Yet,  by  the  side  of  this,  the  paradoxical  chivalry 
of  the  middle  ages  stands  unexplained  (t.  infra,  p.  198). 

^  Cf,  Lady  Milford's  words  in  Schiller^s  "  Kabale  und  Liebe " : 
•*  We  women  can  only  choose  between  ruling  and  serving;  but  the 
^lighest  pleasure  power  affords  is  but  a  miserable  substitute,  if  the 
grater  joy  of  being  the  slaves  of  a  man  we  love  is  denied  us!" 
(Act  IL,  Scene  L). 


MASOCHISM. 


197 


frequent  enough,  but  custom  represses  their  manifesta- 
tion.  Many  young  women  like  nothing  better  than  to 
kneel  before  their  husbands  or  lovers.  Among  the  lower 
classes  of  Slavs  it  is  said  that  the  wives  feel  hurt  if  they 
are  not  beaten  by  their  husbands.  A  Hungarian  official 
informs  me  that  the  peasant  women  of  the  Somogyer 
Comitate  do  not  think  they  are  loved  by^  their  husbands 
until  they  have  received  the  first  box  on  the  ear  as  a  sign 
of  love. 

It  would  probably  be  difficult  for  the  physician  to  find 
cases  of  feminine  masochism.^  Intrinsic  and  extraneous 
restraints — modesty  and  custom — naturally  constitute  in 
woman  insurmountable  obstacles  to  the  expression  of  per- 
verse sexual  instinct.  Thus  it  happens  that,  up  to  the 
present  time,  but  two  cases  of  masochism  in  woman  have 
been  scientifically  established. 

Case  84.  Miss  X.,  twenty-one  years  of  age;  her 
mother  was  a  morphia  maniac  and  died  some  years  ago 
from  nervous  disorders.  Her  uncle  (mother's  side)  was  also 
a  morphia-eater.  One  brother  of  the  girl  was  neurasthenic, 
another  a  masochist  (wished  to  be  beaten  with  a  cane  by 
proud,  noble  ladies).  Miss  X.  had  never  had  a  severe  ill- 
ness, but  at  times  suffered  from  headaches.  She  considered 
herself  to  be  physically  sound,  but  periodically  insane, 
viz.,  when  she  was  haunted  by  the  fancies  which  she  thus 
described: — 

Since  her  earliest  youth  she  fancied  herself  being 
whipped.  She  simply  revelled  in  these  ideas,  and  had  the 
most  intense  desire  to  be  severely  punished  with  a  rattan 
cane. 

This  desire,  she  claimed,  originated  from  the  fact  that 
at  the  age  of  five  a  friend  of  her  father's  took  her  for  fun 

^  Seydel,  "  Vierteljahresschr.  f .  ger.  Med./'  1893,  vol.  ii.,  quotes 
as  an  instance  of  masochism  the  patient  of  Dieffenhach,  who  repeat- 
edly and  purposely  dislocated  her  arm  in  order  to  experience  lustful 
sensations  when  it  was  being  reduced,  anaesthetics  not  being  known 
then. 


198 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


across  his  knees,  pretending  to  whip  her.  Since  then  she 
had  longed  for  the  opportunity  of  being  caned,  but  to  her 
great  regret  her  wish  was  never  realised.  At  these  periods 
she  imagined  herself  as  absolutely  helpless  and  fettered. 
The  mere  mention  of  the  words  "rattan  cane''  and  "to 
whip"  caused  her  intense  excitement.  Only  for  the  last 
two  years  she  associated  these  ideas  with  the  male  sex. 
Previously  she  only  thought  of  a  severe  school-mistress  or 
simply  a  hand. 

Now  she  wished  to  be  the  slave  of  a  man  whom 
she  loves;  she  would  kiss  his  feet  if  he  would  only  whip 
her. 

She  did  not  understand  that  these  manifestations  were 
of  a  sexual  nature. 

A  few  quotations  from  her  letters  are  characteristic  as 
bearing  upon  the  masochistic  character  of  this  case: — 

"In  former  years  I  seriously  contemplated  going  into 
a  lunatic  asylum  whenever  these  ideas  worried  me.  I  fell 
upon  this  idea  whilst  reading  how  the  director  of  an 
insane  asylum  pulled  a  lady  by  the  hair  from  her  bed  and 
beat  her  with  a  cano  and  a  riding-whip.  I  longed  to  be 
treated  in  a  similar  manner  at  such  an  institute,  and  have 
therefore  unconsciously  associated  my  ideas  with  the  male 
sex.  I  liked,  however,  best  to  think  of  brutal,  uneducated 
female  warders  beating  me  mercilessly. 

^Xying  (in  fancy)  before  him,  he  puts  one  foot  on  my 
neck  whilst  I  kiss  the  other.  I  revel  in  the  idea  of  being 
whipped  by  him;  but  this  changes  often,  and  I  fancy 
quite  different  scenes  in  which  he  beats  me.  At  times  I 
take  the  blows  as  so  many  tokens  of  love — he  is  at  first 
extremely  kind  and  tender,  and  then,  in  the  excess  of  his 
love,  he  beats  me.  I  fancy  that  to  beat  me  for  love's  sake 
gives  him  the  highest  pleasure.  Often  I  have  dreamed 
that  I  was  his  slave — ^but,  mind  you,  not  his  female  slave ! 
For  instance,  I  have  imagined  that  he  was  Robinson  and 
I  the  savage  that  served  him.  I  often  look  at  the  pictures 
in  which  Roflbinson  puts  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  the  savage. 
I  now  find  an  explanation  of  these  strange  fancies :  I  look 


MASOCHISM. 


199 


upon  woman  in  general  as  low,  far  below  man;  but  I  am 
otherwise  extremely  proud  and  quite  indomitable,  whence 
it  arises  that  I  think  as  a  man  (who  is  by  nature  proud 
and  superior).  This  renders  my  humiliation  before  the 
man  I  love  the  more  intense.  I  have  also  fancied  myself 
to  be  his  female  slave;  but  this  does  not  suffice,  for  after 
all  every  woman  can  be  the  slave  of  her  husband. 

Case  85.  Miss  v.  X.,  aged  thirty-five ;  of  greatly  pre- 
disposed family.  For  some  years  she  had  been  in  the  ini- 
tial stages  of  paranoia  persecutoria.  This  sprang  from 
cerebro-spinal  neurasthenia,  the  origin  of  which  was  found 
to  be  sexual  hyperexcitation.  With  twenty-four  she  was 
given  to  masturbation.  As  a  result  of  disappointment  in 
an  engagement,  she  began  to  practise  masturbation  and 
psychical  onanism.  Inclination  toward  persons  of  her  own 
sex  never  occurred.  The  patient  says:  ^^At  the  age  of 
six  or  eight  I  conceived  a  desire  to  be  whipped.  Since  I 
had  never  been  whipped,  and  had  never  been  present  when 
others  were  thus  punished,  I  cannot  understand  how  I  came 
to  have  this  strange  desire.  I  can  only  think  that  it  is 
congenital.  With  these  ideas  of  .  being  whipped  I  had  a 
feeling  of  actual  delight,  and  pictured  in  my  fancy  how 
fine  it  would  be  to  be  whipped  by  one  of  my  female  friends. 
I  never  had  any  thought  of  being  whipped  by  a  man.  I 
revelled  in  the  idea,  and  never  attempted  any  actual  reali- 
sation of  my  fancies,  which  disappeared  after  my  tenth 
year.  Only  when  I  read  "Rousseau  s  Confessions,"  at  the 
age  of  thirty-four,  did  I  understand  what  my  longing  for 
whippings  meant,  and  that  my  abnormal  ideas  were  like 
those  of  Rousseau. 

On  account  of  its  original  character  and  the  reference 
to  RousseaUy  this  case  may  with  certainty  be  called  a  case 
of  masochism.  The  fact  that  it  is  a  female  friend  who  is 
conceived  in  imagination  as  whipping  her,  is  explained  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  masochistic  desire  was  here 
present  in  the  mind  of  a  child  before  the  psychical  vita 
sexualis  had  developed  and  the  instinct  for  the  male  had 


200 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


been  awakened.  Antipathic  sexual  instinct  is  here  ex- 
pressly excluded. 

Case  86.  A  physician  in  the  General  Hospital  of 
Vienna  had  his  attention  drawn  to  a  girl  who  used  to  call 
on  the  medical  assistants  of  the  institution.  When  meet- 
ing one  of  them  she  would  express  great  delight  at  meeting 
a  medical  man  and  ask  him  to  at  once  undertake  a  gyneco- 
logical examination  on  her.  She  said  she  would  make  re- 
sistance, but  he  must  take  no  notice  of  that,  on  the  contrary 
ask  her  to  be  calm  and  proceed  with  the  examination.  If 
X.  consented,  the  scene  would  be  enacted  as  she  desired. 
She  would  resist,  and  thus  work  herself  up  into  a  high  state 
of  sexual  excitement.  If  the  medical  man  refused  to  pro- 
ceed any  further  she  would  beg  him  not  to  desist.  It  was 
quite  evident  that  the  examination  was  only  requested  for 
the  purpose  of  inducing  the  highest  possible  degree  of 
orgasm.  When  the  medical  man  refused  coitus  she  felt 
deeply  offended,  but  begged  him  to  let  her  come  again. 
Money  she  never  accepted. 

It  is  apparent  that  orgasm  was  not  induced  by  the  mere 
palpation  of  the  genitals,  but  the  exciting  cause  undoubt- 
edly lay  in  the  act  of  force,  which  was  always  demanded, 
and  which  became  the  equivalent  of  coitus.  It  is  evidently 
a  manifestation  belonging  in  the  province  of  masochism  in 
woman. 

An  Attempt  to  Explain  Masochism, 

The  facts  of  masochism  are  certainly  among  the  most 
interesting  in  the  domain  of  psychopathology.  An  attempt 
at  explanation  must  first  seek  to  distinguish  in  them  the 
essential  from  the  unessential.  The  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic in  masochism  is  certainly  the  unlimited  subjection 
to  the  will  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex  (in  sadism,  on 
the  contrary,  the  unlimited  mastery  of  this  person),  with 
the  awakening  and  accompaniment  of  lustful  sexual  feel- 
ings to  the  degree  of  orgasm.     From  the  foregoing  it  is 


MASOCHISM, 


201 


clear  that  the  particular  manner  in  which  this  relation  of 
subjection  or  domination  is  expressed  (v.  supra) y  whether 
merely  in  symbolic  acts,  or  whether  there  is  also  a  desire 
to  suffer  pain  at  the  hands  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex, 
is  a  subordinate  matter. 

While  sadism  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  pathological 
intensification  of  the  masculine  sexual  character  in  its 
psychical  peculiarities,  masochism  rather  represents  a 
pathological  degeneration  of  the  distinctive  psychical 
peculiarities  of  woman.  But  masculine  masochism  is  un- 
doubtedly frequent;  and  it  is  this  that  comes  most  fre- 
quently under  observation  and  almost  exclusively  makes 
up  the  series  of  observed  cases.  The  reason  for  this  has 
been  previously  stated. 

Two  sources  of  masochism  can  be  distinguished  in  the 
sphere  of  normal  phenomena.  The  first  is,  that  in  the 
state  of  lustful  excitement  every  impression  made  by  the 
person  giving  rise  to  the  sexual  stimulus,  independently  of 
the  nature  of  its  action,  is  pleasing  to  the  individual  ex- 
cited. 

It  is  entirely  physiological  that  playful  taps  and  light 
blows  should  be  taken  for  caresses,^ 

Like  the  lover's  pinch,  which  hurts  and  is  desired. 

— Anthony  and  Cleopatra^  v.,  2. 

From  here  the  step  is  not  long  to  a  state  where  the  wish 
to  experience  a  very  intense  impression  at  the  hands  of 
the  consort  leads  to  a  desire  for  blows,  etc.,  in  cases  of 
pathological  intensification  of  lust;  for  pain  is  ever  a 
ready  means  for  producing  intense  bodily  impressions. 
Just  as  in  sadism  the  sexual  emotion  leads  to  a  state  of 
exaltation  in  which  the  excessive  motor  excitement  im- 
plicates neighbouring  nervous  tracts,  so  in  masochism  an 
ecstatic  state  arises,  in  which  the  rising  flood  of  a  single 

*  Analogous  facta  are  found  in  the  animal  kingdom.  Pulmonata 
Cuv,,  for  instance,  possess  a  small  calcareous  staflf  which  lies  hidden 
in  a  special  pouch  of  the  body,  but  is  at  the  time  of  mating  pro- 
jected and  used  as  a  means  of  sexual  excitement,  producing,  beyond 
doubt,  pain. 


202 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


emotion  ravenously  devours  and  covers  with  lust  every 
impression  coming  from  the  beloved  person. 

The  second  and,  indeed,  the  most  important  source  of 
masochism  is  to  be  sought  in  a  wide-spread  phenomenon, 
which,  though  it  is  extraordinary  and  abnormal,  yet,  by 
no  means  lies  within  the  domain  of  sexual  perversion. 

I  here  refer  to  the  very  prevalent  fact  that  in  in- 
numerable instances,  which  occur  in  all  varieties,  one  in- 
dividual becomes  dependent  on  another  of  the  opposite 
sex,  in  a  very  extraordinary  and  remarkable  manner, — 
even  to  the  loss  of  all  independent  will-power;  a  depend- 
ence which  forces  the  party  in  subjection  to  acts  and 
suffering  which  greatly  prejudice  personal  interest,  and 
often  enough  lead  to  offences  against  both  morality  and 
law. 

This  dependence,  however,  differs  from  the  manifesta- 
tions of  normal  life  only  in  the  intensity  of  the  sexual 
feeling  that  here  comes  in  play,  and  in  the  slight  degree 
of  will-power  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  its  equili- 
brium. The  difference  is  one  of  intensity,  not  of  quality, 
as  in  masochistic  manifestations. 

This  dependence  of  one  person  upon  another  of  the 
opposite  sex — abnormal  but  not  perverse,  a  phenomenon 
possessing  great  interest  when  regarded  from  a  forensic 
standpoint — I  designate  ''sexual  bondage'' for  the  rela- 
tions and  circumstances  attending  it  have  in  all  respects 
the  character  of  bondage.    The  will  of  the  ruling^  indi- 

*  Cf.  the  author's  article,  "  tiber  gesehlechtliche  Horigkeit  und 
Masochismus,"  in  the  "  Psychiatrische  Jahrbiicher,"  Bd.  x.^  p.  169  et 
seq.,  where  this  subject  is  treated  in  detail,  and  particularly  from 
the  forensic  standpoint. 

^  The  expressions  "  slave "  and  "  slavery,"  though  often  used 
metaphorically  under  such  circumstances,  are  avoided  here  because 
they  are  the  favourite  expressions  of  masochism,  from  which  this 
"  bondage  "  must  be  strictly  differentiated. 

The  expression  "  bondage  "  is  not  to  be  construed  to  mean  J,  8, 
MilVs  "  Bondage  of  Woman."  What  Mill  designates  with  this 
expression  are  laws  and  customs,  social  and  historical  facts.  Here, 
however,  we  always  speak  of  facts  having  peculiar  individual  motives 
that  even  conflict  with  prevalent  customs  and  laws.  Besides  it  has 
reference  to  either  sex. 


MASOCHISM. 


203 


vidual  dominates  that  of  the  person  in  subjection,  just  as 
the  master's  does  that  of  bondsmen. 

This  ^^sexual  bondage/'  as  has  been  said,  is  certainly 
an  abnormal  phenomenon.  It  begins  with  the  first  devia- 
tion from  the  normal.  The  degree  of  dependence  of  one 
person  upon  another,  or  of  two  upon  each  other,  resulting 
from  individual  peculiarity  in  the  intensity  of  motives  that 
in  themselves  are  normal,  constitutes  the  normal  standard 
established  by  law  and  custom.  Sexual  bondage  is  not  a 
perverse  manifestation,  however;  the  instinctive  activities 
at  work  here  are  the  same  as  those  that  set  in  motion — 
even  though  it  be  with  less  violence — the  psychical  vita 
sexualis  which  moves  entirely  within  normal  limits. 

Fear  of  losing  the  companion  and  the  desire  to  keep 
him  always  content,  amiable,  and  inclined  to  sexual  inter- 
course, are  here  the  motives  of  the  individual  in  subjection. 
An  extraordinary  degree  of  love — which,  particularly  in 
woman,  does  not  always  indicate  an  unusual  degree  of 
sensuality — and  a  weak  character  are  the  simple  elements 
of  this  extraordinary  process.^ 

The  motive  of  the  dominant  individual  is  egotism 
which  finds  unlimited  room  for  action. 

The  manifestations  of  sexual  bondage  are  various  in 
form,  and  the  cases  are  very  numerous.^  At  every  step  in 
life  we  find  men  that  have  fallen  into  sexual  bondage. 
Among  married  men,  hen-pecked  husbands  belong  to  this 

^  Perhaps  the  most  important  element  is,  that  by  the  habit  of 
submission  a  kind  of  mechanical  obedience,  without  consciousness  of 
its  motives,  which  operates  with  automatic  certainty,  may  be  estab- 
lished, having  no  opposing  motives  to  contend  with,  because  it  lies 
beyond  the  threshold  of  consciousness;  and  it  may  be  used  by  the 
dominant  individual  like  an  inanimate  instrument. 

*  Sexual  bondage,  of  course,  plays  a  rdle  in  all  literature. 
Indeed,  for  the  poet,  the  extraordinary  manifestations  of  the  sexual 
life  that  are  not  perverse  form  a  rich  and  open  field.  The  most 
celebrated  description  of  masculine  "bondage "  is  that  by  Ahh4 
Prevost,  "  Manon  Lescault."  An  excellent  description  of  feminine 
"  bondage  "  is  that  of  "  Leone  Leoni,"  by  George  Sa/nd.  But  first  of 
all  comes  KleisVs  Kiithchen  von  Heilbronn/'  who  himself  called  it 
the  counterpart  of  (sadistic)  "  Penthesilea."  Halm's  "Griseldis'* 
and  many  other  similar  poems  also  belong  here. 


204 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


category,  particularly  elderly  men  who  marry  young  wives 
and  try  to  overcome  the  disparity  of  years  and  physical 
defects  by  unconditional  submission  to  the  wife's  every 
whim;  and  unmarried  men  of  ripe  maturity,  who  seek  to 
better  their  last  chance  of  love  by  unlimited  sacrifice,  are 
also  to  be  enumerated  here.  Here  belong,  also,  men  of 
any  age,  who,  seized  by  hot  passion  for  a  woman,  meet 
coldness  and  calculation,  and  have  to  capitulate  on  hard 
conditions;  men  of  loving  natures  who  allow  themselves 
to  be  persuaded  to  marriage  by  notorious  prostitutes ;  men 
who,  to  run  after  adventuresses,  leave  everything  and 
jeopardise  their  future;  husbands  and  fathers  who  leave 
wife  and  child,  to  lay  the  income  of  a  family  at  the  feet 
of  a  harlot. 

But,  numerous  as  the  examples  of  masculine  ^^bond- 
age'^  are,  every  observer  of  life  who  is  at  all  unprejudiced 
must  allow  that  they  are  far  from  equalling  in  number 
and  importance  the  cases  of  feminine  ^^bondage".  This 
is  easily  explained.  For  a  man,  love  is  almost  alw^ays 
only  an  episode,  and  he  has  many  other  and  important 
interests;  for  a  woman,  on  the  other  hand,  love  is  the 
principal  thing  in  life,  and,  until  the  birth  of  children, 
always  her  first  interest.  After  this  it  is  still  oftener  her 
first  thought,  but  ahvays  takes  at  least  the  second  place. 
But,  what  is  still  more  important,  man  ruled  by  this 
impulse  easily  satisfies  it  in  embraces  for  w^hich  he  finds 
unlimited  opportunities.  Woman  in  the  upper  classes  of 
society,  if  she  have  a  husband,  is  bound  to  him  alone; 
and  even  in  the  lower  classes  there  are  still  great  obstacles 
to  polyandry.  Therefore,  a  woman  s  hushand  means  for 
her  the  whole  sex,  and  his  importance  to  her  becomes  very 
great.  It  must  also  be  considered  that  the  normal  relation 
established  by  law  and  custom  between  husband  and  wife 
is  far  from  being  one  of  equality.  In  itself  it  expresses 
a  sufficient  predominance  of  woman's  dependence.  The 
concessions  she  makes  to  her  lover,  to  retain  the  love 
which  it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  her  to  replace, 
$>nly  plunge  her  deeper  in  bondage ;  and  this  increases  the 


MASOCHISM. 


205 


insatiable  demands  of  husbands  resolved  to  use  their 
advantage  and  traffic  in  woman's  readiness  to  sacrifice 
herself. 

Here  may  be  placed  the  fortune-hunter,  who  for  money 
allows  himself  to  be  enveloped  in  the  easily  created  illu- 
sions of  a  maiden;  the  seducer,  and  the  man  who  com- 
promises wives,  calculating  on  blackmail ;  the  gilded  army 
officer  and  the  musician  with  the  lion's  mane,  who  know 
so  well  how  to  stammer  ^^Thee  or  death!"  as  a  means  to 
pay  debts  and  provide  a  life  of  ease.  Here,  too,  belong 
the  kitchen-soldier,  whose  love  the  cook  returns  with  love 
plus  means  to  satisfy  a  different  appetite ;  the  drinker,  who 
consumes  the  savings  of  the  mistress  he  marries;  and  the 
man  who  with  blows  compels  the  prostitute  on  whom  he 
lives  to  earn  a  certain  sum  for  him  daily.  These  are  only 
a  few  of  the  innumerable  forms  of  bondage  into  which 
w^oman  is  forced  by  her  greater  need  of  love  and  the  diffi- 
culties of  her  position. 

It  was  necessary  to  give  the  subject  of  ^ ^sexual  bond- 
age" here  brief  consideration,  for  in  it  may  be  clearly 
discerned  the  soil  from  which  the  main  root  of  masochism 
springs.  The  relationship  of  these  two  phenomena  of 
psychical  sexual  life  is  immediately  apparent.  Bondage 
and  masochism  both  consist  of  the  unconditional  subjec- 
tion of  the  individual  affected  with  this  abnormality  to  a 
person  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  of  domination  of  the  former 
by  the  latter.^  The  two  phenomena,  however,  must  be 
strictly  differentiated ;  they  are  not  different  in  degree,  but 
in  quality. 

Sexual  bondage  is  not  a  perversion  and  not  pathologi- 
cal ;  the  elements  from  which  it  arises — ^love  and  weakness 
of  will — are  not  perverse;  it  is  only  their  simultaneous 
activity  that  produces  the  abnormal  result  which  is  so 

^  Cases  may  occur  in  which  the  sexual  bondage  is  expressed  in 
the  same  acts  that  are  common  in  masochism.  When  rough  men 
beat  their  wives,  and  the  latter  suffer  for  love,  without,  however, 
having  a  desire  for  blows,  we  have  a  pseudo  form  of  bondage  that 
may  simulate  masochism. 


206 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALI9. 


opposed  to  self-interest,  and  often  to  custom  and  law. 
The  motive,  in  obedience  to  which  the  subordinated  indi- 
vidual acts  and  endures  tyranny,  is  the  normal  instinct 
toward  woman  (or  man),  the  satisfaction  of  which  is  the 
price  of  bondage.  The  acts  of  the  person  in  subjection, 
by  means  of  which  the  bondage  is  expressed,  are  per- 
formed at  the  command  of  the  ruling  individual,  to  sat- 
isfy selfishness,  etc.  For  the  subordinated  individual 
they  have  no  independent  purpose;  they  are  only  the 
means  to  an  end — to  obtain  or  retain  possession  of  the 
ruling  individual.  Finally,  bondage  is  a  result  of  love 
for  a  particular  person;  it  first  appears  when  this  love  is 
awakened. 

In  masochism,  which  is  decidedly  abnormal  and  a 
perversion,  this  is  all  very  different.  The  motive  under- 
lying the  acts  and  suffering  of  the  person  in  subjection  is 
here  the  charm  afforded  by  the  tyranny  in  itself.  There 
may,  at  the  same  time,  be  a  desire  for  coitus  with  the 
dominant  person,  but  the  impulse  is  directed  to  the  acts 
which  serve  to  express  the  tyranny,  as  the  immediate 
objects  of  gratification.  These  acts  in  which  masochism 
is  expressed  are,  for  the  individual  in  subjection,  not 
means  to  an  end,  as  in  bondage,  but  the  end  in  them- 
selves. Finally,  in  masochism  the  longing  for  subjection 
occurs  a  priori  before  the  occurrence  of  an  inclination  to 
any  particular  object  of  love. 

The  connection  between  bondage  and  masochism  may 
be  assumed  by  reason  of  the  correspondence  of  the  two 
phenomena  in  the  objective  condition  of  dependence, 
notwithstanding  the  difference  in  their  motives;  and  the 
transformation  of  the  abnormality  into  the  perversion 
probably  takes  place  in  the  following  manner:  Any  one 
living  for  a  long  time  in  sexual  bondage  becomes  disposed 
to  acquire  a  slight  degree  of  masochism.  Love  that 
willingly  bears  the  tyranny  of  the  loved  one  then  becomes 
an  immediate  love  of  tyranny.  When  the  idea  of  being 
tyrannised  is  for  a  long  time  closely  associated  with  the 
iastfid  thought  of  the  beloved  person,  the  lustful  emotion 


MASOCHISM. 


207 


i$  finally  transferred  to  the  tyranny  itself,  and  the  trans- 
formation to  perversion  is  completed.  This  is  the  manner 
in  which  masochism  may  be  acquired  by  cultivation/ 

Thus  a  mild  degree  of  masochism  may  arise  from 
"bondage'^ — become  acquired ;  but  genuine,  complete, 
deep-rooted  masochism,  with  its  feverish  longing  for  sub- 
jection from  the  time  of  earliest  youth,  is  congenital. 

The  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  perversion — in- 
frequent though  it  be — of  fully  developed  masochism  is 

^  It  is  highly  interesting,  and  dependent  upon  the  nature  of 
bondage  and  masochism,  which  essentially  correspond  in  external 
effects,  that  to  illustrate  the  former  certain  playful,  metaphorical 
expressions  are  in  general  use;  such  as  "slavery,"  "to  bear  chains," 
"  bound,"  "  to  hold  the  whip  over/"  "  to  harness  to  the  triumphal 
car,"  "  to  He  at  the  feet,"  "  henpecked,"  etc., — all  things  which, 
literally  carried  out,  form  the  objects  of  the  masochist's  desire. 
Such  similes  are  frequently  used  in  daily  life  and  have  become  trite. 
They  are  derived  from  the  language  of  poetry.  Poetry  has  always 
recognized,  within  the  general  idea  of  the  passion  of  love,  the  element 
of  dependence  in  the  lover,  who  practises  self-sacrifice  spontaneously 
or  of  necessity.  The  facts  of  "  bondage  "  have  also  always  presented 
themselves  to  the  poetical  imagination.  When  the  poet  chooses  such 
expressions  as  those  mentioned,  to  picture  the  dependence  of  the 
lover  in  striking  similes,  he  proceeds  exactly  on  the  same  lines  as 
does  the  masochist,  viz.,  to  intensify  the  idea  of  his  dependence  (his 
ultimate  aim),  he  creates  such  situations  in  reality.  In  ancient 
poetry,  the  expression  "  domina  "  is  used  to  signify  the  loved  one, 
with  a  preference  for  the  simile  of  "  casting  in  chains  "  ( e.g.,  HoracCy 
Od.  iv.,  11).  From  antiquity  through  all  the  centuries  to  our  own 
times  ( cf.  Grillparzer,  "  Ottokar,"  act  v. :  "  To  rule  is  sweet,  almost 
as  sweet  as  to  obey " )  the  poetry  of  love  is  filled  with  similar 
phrases  and  similes.  The  history  of  the  word  "  mistress  "  is  also 
interesting.  But  poetry  reacts  on  life.  It  is  probable  that  the 
courtly  chivalry  of  the  middle  ages  arose  in  this  way.  In  its  rever- 
ence for  women  as  "  mistresses  "  in  society  and  in  individual  love- 
relations;  its  transference  of  the  relations  of  feudalism  and  vassalage 
to  the  relation  between  the  knight  and  his  lady;  its  submission  to  all 
feminine  whims;  its  love-tests  and  vows;  its  duty  of  obedience  to 
every  command  of  the  lady — in  all  this,  chivalry  appears  as  a  sys- 
tematic, poetical  development  of  the  "  bondage "  of  love.  Certain 
extreme  manifestations,  like  the  deeds  and  sufferings  of  TJlrich  von 
Lichtenstein  or  Pierre  Vidal  in  the  service  of  their  ladies;  or  the 
practice  of  the  fraternity  of  the  "  Galois  "  in  France,  whose  members 
sought  martyrdom  in  love  and  subjected  themselves  to  all  kinds  of 
suffering — these  clearly  have  a  masochistic  character,  and  demon- 
strate the  natural  transformation  of  one  phenomenon  into  the  other. 


208 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


most  probably  to  be  found  in  the  assumption  that  it  arises 
from  the  more  frequent  abnormality  of  ^^sexual  bondage/' 
through  which,  now  and  then,  this  abnormality  is  heredi- 
tarily transferred  to  a  psychopathic  individual  in  such  a 
manner  that  it  becomes  transformed  into  a  perversion.  It 
has  been  previously  shown  how  a  slight  displacement  of 
the  psychical  elements  under  consideration  may  effect  this 
transition.  Whatever  effects  associating  habits  may  have 
on  possible  cases  of  acquired  masochism,  the  same  effects 
are  produced  by  the  varying  tricks  of  heredity  upon  orig- 
inal masochism.  N'o  new  element  is  thereby  added  to 
'^bondage/'  but  on  the  contrary  the  very  element  is  deleted 
which  cements  love  and  dependence,  and  thereby  distin- 
guishes ^^bondage''  from  masochism  and  abnormality  from 
perversion.  It  is  quite  natural  that  only  the  instinctive 
element  is  transmitted. 

This  transition  from  abnormality  into  perversion, 
through  hereditary  transference,  takes  place  very  easily 
where  the  psychopathic  constitution  of  the  descendant 
presents  the  other  factor  of  masochism, — i.e.,  what  has 
been  previously  called  its  main  root, — the  tendency  of 
sexually  hyperaesthetic  natures  to  assimilate  all  impres- 
sions coming  from  the  beloved  person  with  the  sexual  im- 
pression. 

From  these  two  elements, — from  "sexual  bondage"  on 
the  one  hand  and  from  the  above-mentioned  disposition 
to  sexual  ecstasy,  which  apperceives  even  maltreatment 
with  lustful  emotion,  on  the  other, — the  roots  of  which 
may  be  traced  back  to  the  field  of  physiological  facts, 
masochism  arises  from  the  basis  of  psychopathic  predis- 
position, in  so  far  as  its  sexual  hyperaesthesia  intensifies 
first  all  the  physiological  accessories  of  the  vita  sexualis 
and,  finally,  only  its  abnormal  accompaniments,  to  the 
pathological  degree  of  perversion.^ 

*  If  it  be  considered  that,  as  shown  above,  "  sexual  bondage " 
is  a  phenomenon  observed  much  more  frequently  and  in  a  more 
pronounced  degree  in  the  female  sex  than  in  the  male,  the  thought 
arises  that  masochism  (if  not  always,  at  least  as  a  rul^^  is  ta* 


MASOCHISM. 


209 


At  any  rate,  masochism,  as  a  congenital  sexual  per- 
version, constitutes  a  functional  sign  of  degeneration  in 
(almost  exclusively)  hereditary  taint;  and  this  clinical 
deduction  is  confirmed  in  my  cases  of  masochism  and 
sadism.  It  is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  the  peculiar, 
psychically  anomalous  direction  of  the  vita  sexualis  rep- 
resented in  masochism  is  an  original  abnormality,  and 
not,  so  to  speak,  cultivated  in  a  predisposed  individual 
by  passive  flagellation,  through  association  of  ideas,  as 
Rousseau  and  Binet  contend.  This  is  shown  by  the 
numerous  cases  of  masochism — in  fact,  the  majority — in 
which  flagellation  never  appears,  in  which  the  perverse 
impulse  is  directed  exclusively  to  purely  symbolic  acts 
expressing  subjection  without  any  actual  infliction  of  pain. 
This  is  demonstrated  by  the  whole  series  of  observations, 
from  case  50,  given  here. 

The  same  result — namely,  that  passive  flagellation  is 
not  the  nucleus  around  which  all  the  rest  is  gathered — is 
reached  when  closer  study  is  given  to  the  cases  in  which 
passive  flagellation  plays  a  rohy  as  in  cases  50  and  52. 
Case  58  is  particularly  instructive  in  relation  to  this ;  for 
in  this  instance  there  can  be  no  thought  of  a  sexually 
stimulating  effect  by  punishment  received  in  youth.  More- 
over, in  this  case,  connection  with  an  early  experience  is 
not  possible;  for  the  situation  constituting  the  object  of 
principal  sexual  interest  is  absolutely  incapable  of  being 
carried  out  by  a  child. 

Finally,  the  origin  of  masochism  from  purely  psychical 
elements,  on  confronting  it  with  sadism  (v.  infra),  is  con- 
vincingly demonstrated.     That  passive  flagellation  occurs 

inheritance  of  the  "  bondage  "  of  feminine  ancestry.  Thus  it  cornea 
into  a  relation — though  distant — ^with  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  aa 
a  ti*ansference  to  the  male  of  a  perversion  really  belonging  to  thtj 
female. 

It  must,  however,  be  emphasised  that  "  bondage  "  also  plays  no 
unimportant  role  in  the  masculine  vita  sexualis,  and  that  masochism 
in  man  may  also  be  explained  without  any  such  transference  of 
feminine  elements.  It  must  also  be  remembered  here  that  masochism, 
well  as  its  counterpart,  sadism,  occurs  in  irregular  combinatioij 
with  antipathic  sexual  instinct. 

14 


210 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


SO  frequently  in  masochism  is  explained  simply  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  most  extreme  means  of  expressing  the 
relation  of  subjection. 

I  repeat  that  the  decisive  points  in  the  differentiation 
of  simple  passive  flagellation  from  flagellation  dependent 
upon  masochistic  desire  are,  that  in  the  former  the  act  is 
a  means  to  render  coitus,  or  at  least  ejaculation,  possible; 
and  that  in  the  latter  it  is  a  means  of  gratification  of 
masochistic  desires. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  masochists  subject  themselves 
to  all  other  kinds  of  maltreatment  and  suffering  in  which 
there  can  be  no  question  of  reflex  excitation  of  lust.  Since 
such  cases  are  numerous,  we  must  in  these  acts  (as  well 
as  in  flagellation  in  masochists,  having  like  significance) 
seek  to  ascertain  the  relation  in  which  pain  and  lust  stand 
to  each  other.  From  the  statement  of  a  masochist  it  is 
as  follows : — 

The  relation  is  not  of  such  a  nature  that  what  causes 
physical  pain  is  here  simply  perceived  as  physical  pleas- 
ure; for  the  person  in  a  state  of  masochistic  ecstasy  feels 
no  pain,  either  because,  by  reason  of  his  emotional  state 
(like  that  of  the  soldier  in  battle),  the  physical  effect  on 
his  cutaneous  nerves  is  not  apperceived,  or  because  (as  with 
religious  martyrs  and  enthusiasts),  in  the  preoccupation 
of  consciousness  with  lustful  emotion,  the  idea  of  mal- 
treatment remains  merely  a  symbol,  without  its  quality  of 
pain. 

To  a  certain  extent  there  is  overcompensation  of 
physical  pain  in  the  psychical  pleasure,  and  only  the  excess 
remains  in  consciousness  as  psychical  lust.  This  also 
undergoes  an  increase,  since,  either  through  reflex  spinal 
influence  or  through  a  peculiar  colouring  in  the  sensorium 
of  sensory  impressions,  a  kind  of  hallucination  of  bodily 
pleasure  takes  place,  with  a  vague  localisation  of  the  ob- 
jectively projected  sensation. 

In  the  self-torture  of  religious  enthusiasts  (fakirs, 
howling  dervishes,  religious  flagellants)  there  is  an  analo- 
gous state,  only  with  a  difference  in  the  quality  of  pleas- 


MASOCHISM. 


211 


urable  feeling.  Here  the  conception  of  martyrdom  is  also 
apperceived  without  its  pain;  for  consciousness  is  filled 
with  the  pleasurably  coloured  idea  of  serving  God,  atoning 
for  sins,  deserving  heaven,  etc.,  through  martyrdom. 

In  order  to  give  masochism  its  proper  place  in  the 
sphere  of  sexual  perversion,  we  must  proceed  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  manifestation  of  psychical  characteristics 
of  the  feminine  type  transcending  into  pathological  con- 
ditions, in  so  far  as  its  determining  marks  are  suffering, 
subjection  to  the  will  of  others,  and  to  force.  Among 
peoples  of  a  lower  class  of  culture  the  subjection  of  woman 
is  extended  even  to  brutality.  This  flagrant  proof  of  de- 
pendence is  felt  by  woman  even  with  sensual  pleasure  and 
accepted  as  a  token  of  love.  It  is  probable  that  the  woman 
of  high  civilisation  looks  upon  the  role  of  being  over- 
shadowed by  the  male  consort  as  an  acceptable  situation 
which  forms  a  portion  of  the  lustful  feeling  developed  in 
the  sexual  act.  The  daring  and  self-confident  demeanor 
of  man  undoubtedly  exercises  a  sexual  charm  over  woman. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  masochist  considers  himself 
in  a  passive,  feminine  role  towards  his  mistress  and  that 
his  sexual  gratification  is  governed  by  the  success  his  il- 
lusion experiences  in  the  complete  subjection  to  the  will 
of  the  consort.  The  pleasurable  feeling,  call  it  lust,  re- 
sulting from  this  act  differs  per  se  in  no  wise  from  the 
feeling  which  woman  derives  from  the  sexual  act. 

The  masochistically  inclined  individual  seeks  and  finds 
an  equivalent  for  his  purpose  in  the  fact  that  he  endows 
in  his  imagination  the  consort  with  certain  masculine  psy- 
chical sexual  characteristics — i.e.,  in  a  perverse  manner, 
in  so  far  as  the  sadistic  female  partner  constitutes  his 
ideal. 

From  this  emanates  the  deduction  that  masochism  is, 
properly  speaking,  only  a  rudimentary  form  of  antipathic 
sexual  instinct.  It  is  a  partial  effemination  which  has 
only  apperceived  the  secondary  sexual  characteristics  of 
the  psychical  vita  sexualis. 

This  assumption  is  supported  by  the  fact  that  hetero- 


212 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sexual  masochists  consider  themselves  merely  as  individ- 
uals endowed  with  feminine  feelings.^  Observation  shows 
that  they  really  possess  feminine  traits  of  character.^  This 
renders  it  intelligible  that  the  masochistic  element  is  so  fre- 
quently found  in  hemosexual  men.^ 

In  the  woman  masochist  also  these  relations  to  an- 
tipathic sexual  instinct  are  to  be  found.  Cf.,  ease  84. 
Moll  quotes  a  typical  case  of  homosexuality  in  a  woman 
afflicted  with  passive  flagellantism  and  koprolagnia : 

Case  87.  Miss  X.,  age  twenty-six.  At  the  age  of 
six  cunnilingus  mutuus;  then  up  to  seventeen  deficiente 
occasione  solitary  masturbation.  Since  then  cunnilingus 
with  various  female  friends^  at  times  playing  the  passive, 
at  others  the  active  role,  always  producing  ejaculation  in 
herself.  For  years  koprolagnia.  Maxime  delectata  fuit 
lambendo  anum  feminarum  amatarum,  lambendo  san- 
guinem  menstrualem  amicae.  The  same  effect  had  ver- 
bera  amicae  delectae  nudae  et  robustae  ad  nates.  '  The 
thought  of  performing  koprolagnia  in  corpore  viri  was 
repulsive  to  her.  Satisfaction  in  cunnilingus  viri  she  only 
obtained  when  she  imagined  that  the  act  was  performed 
by  a  woman,  not  by  a  man.  Coitus  cum  viro  she  dis- 
dained. Erotic  dreams  were  always  of  a  homosexual  na- 
ture and  were  confined  to  active  or  passive  cunnilingus. 
Inter  osculationem  mutuam  maximam  offert  voluptatem 

^Cf.  cases  57  and  58. 

*  Cf .  case  70  in  Schrenck-Notzi/ng ;  case  20  in  FSr4,  Tinstinct 
sexuell,  p.  262. 

®Cf.  case  67  in  Schrench-Nofzing;  Moll,  Contr.  Sexualempfindung, 
3rd  edition,  p.  265  (gentleman  who  pestered  an  officer  with  letters  in 
which  he  begged  him  to  be  allowed  to  clean  his  boots)  ;  ibidem,  p.  281 
(gentleman  who  was  agitated  by  two  wishes,  viz.:  (1)  to  be  a  woman 
that  he  might  have  coitus  with  the  man  he  loved,  ( 2 )  to  be  maltreated 
by  the  same)  ;  ibidem,  case  17;  ditto,  p.  283  (man  who  finds  satis- 
faction in  the  act  vtdth  another  man  only  when  the  latter  rubs  his 
back  with  a  hard  brush  till  the  blood  flows)  ;  p.  284  (koprolagnia)  ; 
p.  317;  V,  Krafft,  Psycop.  sexual.,  6th  edit.,  case  43;  8th  edit.,  cases 
46,  114,  115;  item,  Jahrb.  f.  Psychiatric,  xii.,  pp.  339  and  351; 
item,  "  Arbeiten,"  iv.,  p.  134. 


MASOCHISM  AND  SADISM, 


213 


morsus  consortis,  by  preference  in  the  lobe  of  the  ear, 
causing  pain  and  subsequent  swelling. 

X.  always  had  leaning  to  male  occupations,  loved  to 
be  among  men  as  one  of  their  own.  From  her  tenth  to 
her  fifteenth  year  she  worked  in  the  brewery  of  a  relative, 
if  possible  clad  in  trousers  and  a  leather  apron.  She  was 
bright,  intelligent  and  good-natured,  and  felt  quite  happy 
in  her  perverse,  homosexual  existence.  She  smoked  and 
drank  beer.  Female  larynx  {Dr.  Flatau)^  small,  badly 
developed  breasts,  large  hands  and  feet.  (Dr.  Moll,  intern. 
Centralblatt  f.  Physiol,  und  Patholog.  der  Harn-  und  Sex- 
ual-organe.  iv.  3). 

Masochism  and  Sadism. 

The  perfect  counterpart  of  masochism  is  sadism. 
While  in  the  former  there  is  a  desire  to  suffer  and  be 
subjected  to  violence,  in  the  latter  the  wish  is  to  inflict 
pain  and  use  violence. 

The  parallelism  is  perfect.  All  the  acts  and  situations 
used  by  the  sadist  in  the  active  role  become  the  object  of 
the  desire  of  the  masochist  in  the  passive  role.  In  both 
perversions  these  acts  advance  from  purely  symbolic  acts 
to  severe  maltreatment.  Even  murder,  in  which  sadism 
reaches  its  acme,  finds,  as  is  shown  in  case  62, — of 
course,  only  in  fancy, — its  passive  counterpart.  Under 
favouring  conditions,  both  perversions  may  occur  with 
a  normal  vita  sexualis;  in  both,  the  acts  in  which  they 
express  themselves  are  preparatory  to  coitus  or  substi- 
tutes for  it.^ 

^Of  course,  both  have  to  contend  with  opposing  ethical  and 
aesthetic  motives  in  foro  mterno.  After  these  have  been  overcome, 
active  sadism  immediately  comes  in  conflict  with  the  law.  This  is 
not  the  case  with  masochism,  which  accounts  for  the  greater  fre- 
quency of  masochistic  acts.  But  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  and 
fear  of  pain  prevent  the  realisation  of  the  latter.  The  practical 
significance  of  masochism  lies  only  in  its  relations  to  psychical 
impotence;  while  that  of  sadism  lies  beyond  this,  and  is  principally 
forensic 


214 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


But  the  analogy  does  not  exist  simply  in  external  man- 
ifestations; it  also  extends  to  the  intrinsic  character  of 
both  perversions.  Both  are  to  be  regarded  as  original 
psychopathies  in  mentally  abnormal  individuals,  who,  in 
particular,  are  affected  with  psychical  hypercesthesia  sexu- 
alisy  and,  as  a  rule,  also  with  other  abnormalities ;  and  for 
each  of  these  perversions  two  constituent  elements  may  be 
demonstrated,  which  have  their  roots  in  psychical  facts 
lying  within  physiological  limits.  In  masochism,  as  shown 
above,  these  elements  lie  in  the  fact  (1)  that  in  the  state 
of  sexual  emotion  every  impression  produced  by  the  con- 
sort, independently  of  the  manner  of  its  production,  is, 
per  sCy  attended  with  lustful  pleasure,  which,  when  accom- 
panied by  hypercesthesia  sexualis,  may  go  so  far  as  to 
overcompensate  all  painful  sensation;  and  in  the  fact  (2) 
that  ^^sexual  bondage,''  dependent  on  mental  factors — in 
themselves  not  perverse — may,  under  pathological  condi- 
tions, become  a  perverse,  pleasurable  desire  for  subjection 
to  the  opposite  sex,  which — even  if  its  inheritance  from 
the  female  side  need  not  be  presupposed — represents  a 
pathological  degeneration  of  the  character  (really  belong- 
ing to  woman)  of  the  instinct  of  subordination,  physiolo- 
gical in  woman. 

In  harmony  with  this,  there  are,  likewise,  two  constit- 
uent elements  explanatory  of  sadism,  the  origin  of  which 
may  also  be  traced  back  within  physiological  limits.  These 
are:  the  fact  (1)  that  in  sexual  emotion,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent as  an  accompanying  psychical  excitation,  an  impulse 
may  arise  to  influence  the  object  of  desire  in  every  possible 
way  and  with  the  greatest  possible  intensity,  which,  in  in- 
dividuals sexually  hypersesthetic,  may  degenerate  into  a 
craving  to  inflict  pain;  and  the  fact  (2)  that,  under  path- 
ological conditions,  man's  active  role  of  winning  woman 
may  become  an  unlimited  desire  for  subjugation. 

Thus  masochism  and  sadism  represent  perfect  counter- 
parts. It  is  also  in  harmony  with  this  that  the  individuals 
affected  with  these  perversions  regard  the  opposite  perver- 


MASOCHISM  AND  SADISM. 


215 


sion  in  the  other  sex  as  their  ideal,  as  shown  by  case  57, 
and  also  by  ''Bousseaus  Confessions". 

But  the  contrast  of  masochism  and  sadism  may  also 
be  used  to  invalidate  the  assumption  that  the  former  has 
its  origin  in  the  reflex  effect  of  passive  flagellation,  and 
that  all  the  rest  is  the  product  of  association  of  related 
ideas,  as  Binety  in  his  explanation  of  Rousseau  s  case, 
thinks,  and  as  Rousseau  himself  believed.  In  the  active 
maltreatment  forming  the  object  of  the  sadist's  sexual 
desire  there  is,  in  fact,  no  irritation  of  his  own  sensory 
nerves  by  the  act  of  maltreatment,  so  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  purely  psychical  character  of  the  origin  of  this 
perversion.  Sadism  and  masochism,  however,  are  so  re- 
lated to  each  other,  and  so  correspond  in  all  points  with 
each  other,  that  the  one  allows,  by  analogy,  a  conclusion 
for  the  other;  and  this  is  alone  sufficient  to  establish  the 
purely  psychical  character  of  masochism. 

According  to  the  above-detailed  contrast  of  all  the  ele- 
ments and  phenomena  of  masochism  and  sadism,  and  as  a 
resume  of  all  observed  cases,  lust  in  the  infliction  of  pain 
and  lust  in  inflicted  pain  appear  but  as  two  different  sides 
of  the  same  psychical  process,  of  which  the  primary  and 
essential  thing  is  the  consciousness  of  active  or  passive 
subjection,  in  which  the  combination  of  cruelty  and  lustful 
pleasure  has  only  a  secondary  psychological  signiflcance. 
Acts  of  cruelty  serve  to  express  this  subjection;  first,  be- 
cause they  are  the  most  extreme  means  for  the  expression 
of  this  relation;  and,  again,  because  they  represent  the 
most  intense  effect  that  one  person,  either  with  or  without 
coitus,  can  exert  on  another. 

Sadism  and  masochism  are  the  results  of  associations, 
just  the  same  as  all  complicated  manifestations  of  psychi- 
cal life  are  associations.  For  psychic  life  consists,  after 
the  production  of  the  simplest  elements  of  consciousness, 
simply  of  associations  and  disassociations  of  these  ele- 
ments. 

The  chief  point  gained  by  this  analysis  is  that  sadism 
and  masochism  are  not  merely  the  results  of  accidental 


216 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


associations,  occasioned  by  chance  or  an  opportune  coinci- 
dence, but  results  of  associations  springing  from  causes 
existing  under  normal  circumstances,  easily  produced 
under  certain  conditions — e.g.,  sexual  hypersesthesia.  An 
abnormally  intensified  sexual  instinct  spreads  in  every 
direction.  It  reaches  into  adjacent  spheres,  and  amalga- 
mates with  their  contents,  thus  producing  the  pathological 
associations  which  are  the  real  essence  of  both  these  per- 
versions/ 

Of  course,  this  need  not  always  be  so,  for  there  are 
cases  of  hypersesthesia  without  perversion.  But  these 
cases  of  pure  hypercesthesia  sexualis — at  least,  those  of 
striking  intensity^ — seem  to  be  of  rarer  occurrence  than 
those  of  perversion. 

The  cases  in  which  sadism  and  masochism  occur  simul- 
taneously in  one  individual  are  interesting,  but  they  pre- 

^  Schrenck-Notzing,  who  in  his  explanation  of  all  perversions 
lays  particular  stress  upon  the  "  occasional  momentum,"  gives  prefer- 
ence to  the  theory  of  acquired  perversions  over  the  congenital,  and 
allows  the  manifestations  of  sadism  and  masochism  only  a  subordi- 
nate position.  Although  he  admits  that  many  cases  can  only  be 
explained  on  the  assumption  of  congenital  predisposition,  yet  he 
contends  that  circumstances  or  a  timely  coincidence  control  their 
acquirement  {op,  cit,  p.  170). 

His  arguments  are  based  upon  observations.  Quoting  two  cases 
of  psychopathia  sexualis  (29  and  37  of  the  seventh  edition)  he  con- 
tends that  the  accidental  sight  of  a  girl  bleeding  or  a  boy  being 
whipped  coinciding  with  a  strong  sexual  emotion  may  be  sufficient 
cause  for  continued  pathological  associations. 

Against  this  it  may,  however,  be  decisively  held  that  in  every 
hyperaesthetic  individual  early  and  strong  sexual  emotions  have  often 
coincided  with  numerous  heterogeneous  things,  whilst  the  patho- 
logical associations  are  alimys  coupled  with  hut  few  definite  (sadistic 
and  masochistic)  thhigs.  Nuinerous  pupils  indulge  in  sexual 
emotions  or  gratifications  during  lessons  in  grammar  and  mathe- 
matics in  the  class-room,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  without  thereby  con- 
tracting perverse  associations. 

From  this  clearly  follows  that  the  sight  of  a  whipping  or  similar 
scenes  may  provoke  pathological  associations  already  present  but 
latent,  but  that  it  cannot  produce  them.  Moreover,  the  aroused 
sexual  instinct  is  not  associated  with  the  numerous  indifferent  things 
that  are  ever  present,  but  only  with  such  as  normally  excite  disgust. 

The  same  argument  refers  to  the  opinion  of  Binet,  who  also 
seeks  to  explain  these  manifestations  by  accidental  associations. 


MASOCHISM  AND  SADISM. 


217 


sent  some  difficulties  of  explanation.  Such  cases  are,  for 
instance,  ITo.  47  of  the  seventh  edition,  also  Nos.  57  and 
67  of  the  present,  but  especially  No.  29  of  the  ninth  edi- 
tion. From  the  latter  it  is  evident  that  it  is  especially 
the  idea  of  subjection  that,  both  actively  and  passively, 
forms  the  nucleus  of  the  perverse  desires.  Traces  of  the 
same  thing  are  also  to  be  observed,  with  more  or  less  clear- 
ness, in  many  other  cases.  At  any  rate,  one  of  the  two 
perversions  is  always  markedly  predominant. 

Owing  to  this  marked  predominance  of  one  perversion 
and  the  later  appearance  of  the  other  in  such  cases,  it 
may  well  be  assumed  that  the  predominating  perversion 
is  original^  and  that  the  other  has  been  acquired  in  the 
course  of  time.  The  ideas  of  subjection  and  maltreat- 
ment, coloured  with  lustful  pleasure,  either  in  an  active 
or  passive  sense,  have  become  deeply  imbedded  in  such 
an  individual.  Occasionally  the  imagination  is  tempted 
to  try  the  same  ideas  in  an  inverted  role.  There  may 
even  be  realisation  of  this  inversion.  Such  attempts  in 
imagination  and  in  acts,  are,  however,  usually  soon  aban- 
doned as  inadequate  for  the  original  inclination. 

Masochism  and  sadism  also  occur  in  combination  with 
antipathic  sexual  instinct,  and,  in  fact,  in  association  with 
all  forms  and  degrees  of  this  perversion.  The  individual 
of  inverted  sexuality  may  be  a  sadist  as  well  as  a  masochist 
(cf.  cases  55  of  the  present  and  49  of  the  seventh  edition 
and  numerous  cases  in  the  subsequent  series  of  cases  of 
sexual  inversion). 

Wherever  a  sexual  perversion  has  developed  on  the 
basis  of  a  neuropathic  individuality,  sexual  hypersesthesia, 
which  may  always  be  assumed  to  be  present,  may  induce 
the  phenomena  of  masochism  and  sadism — ^now  of  the 
one,  now  of  both  combined,  one  arising  from  the  other. 
Thus  masochism  and  sadism  appear  as  the  fundamental 
forms  of  psycho-sexual  perversion,  which  may  make  their 


218 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


appearance  at  any  point  in  the  domain  of  sexual  aberra- 
tion/ 

Fctichism.— The  Association  of  Lust  with  the  Idea  of 
Certain  Portions  of  the  Female  Person,  or  with  Cer- 
tain Articles  of  Female  Attire. 

In  the  considerations  concerning  the  psychology  of  the 
normal  sexual  life  in  the  introduction  to  this  work  it  was 
shown  that,  within  physiological  limits,  the  pronounced 
preference  for  a  certain  portion  of  the  body  of  persons 
of  the  opposite  sex,  particularly  for  a  certain  form  of 
this  part,  may  attain  great  psycho-sexual  importance.  In- 

^  Every  attempt  to  explain  the  facts  of  either  sadism  or  maso- 
chism owing  to  the  close  connection  of  the  two  phenomena  demon- 
strated here,  must  also  be  suited  to  explain  the  other  perversion. 
An  attempt  to  offer  an  explanation  of  sadism,  by  Kiernan 
(Chicago)  (vide  "Psychological  Aspects  of  the  Sexual  Appetite," 
Alienist  and  Neurologist,  St.  Louis,  April,  1891)  meets  this  require- 
ment, and  for  this  reason  may  be  briefly  mentioned  here.  Kiernan, 
who  has  several  authorities  in  Anglo-American  literature  for  his 
theory,  starts  from  the  assumption  of  several  naturalists  (Dallinger, 
Drysdale,  RolpJi,  Cienkowsky)  which  conceives  the  so-called  con- 
jugation, a  sexual  act  in  certain  low  forms  of  animal  life,  to  be 
cannibalism,  a  devouring  of  the  partner  in  the  act.  He  brings  into 
immediate  connection  with  this  the  well-known  facts  that  at  the 
time  of  sexual  union  crabs  tear  limbs  from  their  bodies  and  spiders 
bite  off  the  heads  of  the  males^  and  other  sadistic  acts  performed 
by  rutting  animals  with  their  consorts.  From  this  he  passes  to  lust- 
murder  and  other  lustful  acts  of  cruelty  in  man,  and  assumes  that 
hunger  and  the  sexual  appetite  are,  in  their  origin,  identical;  that 
the  sexual  cannibalism  of  lower  forms  of  animal  life  has  an  influence 
in  higher  forms  and  in  man,  and  that  sadism  is  an  atavistic  rebound. 

This  explanation  of  sadism  would,  of  course,  also  explain 
masochism;  for  if  the  origin  of  sexual  intercourse  is  to  be  sought  in 
cannibalistic  process,  then  both  the  survival  of  one  sex  and  the 
destruction  of  the  other  would  fulfil  the  purpose  of  nature,  and 
thus  the  instinctive  desire  to  be  the  victim  would  be  explained. 
But  it  must  be  stated  in  objection  that  the  basis  of  this  reasoning 
is  insuflicient.  The  extremely  complicated  process  of  conjugation  in 
lower  organisms,  into  which  science  has  really  penetrated  only 
during  the  last  few  years,  is  by  no  means  to  be  regarded  as  simply 
a  devouring  of  one  individual  by  another  {cf.  Weisma/nn,  "Die 
Bedeutung  der  sexuellen  Fortpflanzung  fiir  die  Selectionstheorie,'' 
p.  51,  Jena,  1886). 


FETICHISM. 


219 


deed,  the  especial  power  of  attraction  possessed  by  certain 
forms  and  peculiarities  for  many  men — in  fact,  the  ma- 
jority— may  be  regarded  as  the  real  principle  of  individ- 
ualism in  love. 

This  preference  for  certain  particular  physical  char- 
acteristics in  persons  of  the  opposite  sex — ^by  the  side  of 
which,  likewise,  a  marked  preference  for  certain  psychical 
characteristics  may  be  demonstrated — following  Binet 
(^^Du  Fetischisme  dans  Tamour,''  ^^Revue  Philosophique,'^ 
1887)  and  Lombroso  (Introduction  to  the  Italian  edition 
of  the  second  edition  of  this  work),  I  have  called  ^^fetich- 
ism";  because  this  enthusiasm  for  certain  portions  of  the 
body  (or  even  articles  of  attire)  and  the  worship  of  them, 
in  obedience  to  sexual  impulses,  frequently  call  to  mind 
the  reverence  for  relics,  holy  objects,  etc.,  in  religious  cults. 
This  physiological  fetichism  has  already  been  described 
in  detail. 

By  the  side  of  this  physiological  fetichism,  however, 
there  is,  in  the  psycho-sexual  sphere,  an  undoubted  patho- 
logical,  erotic  fetichism,  of  which  there  is  already  a  numer- 
ous series  of  cases  presenting  phenomena  having  great 
clinical  and  psychiatric  interest,  and,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances also,  forensic  importance.  This  pathological 
fetichism  does  not  confine  itself  to  certain  parts  of  the 
body  alone,  but  it  is  even  extended  to  inanimate  objects, 
which,  however,  are  almost  always  articles  of  female 
wearing-apparel,  and  thus  stand  in  close  relation  with  the 
female  person. 

This  pathological  fetichism  is  connected,  through  grad- 
ual transitions,  with  physiological  fetichism,  so  that  (at 
least  in  body-fetichism)  it  is  almost  impossible  to  sharply 
define  the  beginning  of  the  perversion.  Moreover,  the 
whole  field  of  body-fetichism  does  not  really  extend  beyond 
the  limits  of  things  which  normally  stimulate  the  sexual 
instinct.  Here  the  abnormality  consists  only  in  the  fact 
that  the  whole  sexual  interest  is  concentrated  on  the  im- 
pression made  by  a  part  of  the  person  of  the  opposite  sex, 
so  that  &11  other  impressions  fade  and  become  more  or  less 


220 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS- 


indifferent.  Therefore,  the  body-fetichist  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  monstrum  per  excessum^  like  the  sadist  or 
masochist,  but  rather  as  a  monstrum  per  defectum.  What 
stimulates  him  is  not  abnormal,  but  rather  what  does  not 
affect  him, — the  limitation  of  sexual  interest  that  has  taken 
place  in  him.  Of  course,  this  limited  sexual  interest, 
within  its  narrower  limits,  is  usually  expressed  with  a 
correspondingly  greater  and  abnormal  intensity. 

It  would  seem  reasonable  to  assume,  as  the  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  pathological  fetichism,  the  necessity  for  the 
presence  of  the  fetich  as  a  conditio  sine  qua  non  for  the 
possibility  of  performance  of  coitus.  But  when  the  facts 
are  more  carefully  studied,  it  is  seen  that  this  limitation 
is  really  only  indefinite.  There  are  numerous  cases  in 
which,  even  in  the  absence  of  the  fetich,  coitus  is  possible, 
but  incomplete  and  forced  (often  with  the  help  of  fancies 
relating  to  the  fetich),  and  particularly  unsatisfying  and 
exhausting;  and,  too,  closer  study  of  the  distinctive  sub- 
jective psychical  conditions  in  these  cases  shows  that  there 
are  transitional  states,  passing,  on  the  one  hand,  to  mere 
physiological  preferences,  and,  on  the  other,  to  psychical 
impotence,  in  the  absence  of  the  fetich. 

It  is  therefore  better,  perhaps,  to  seek  the  pathological 
criterion  of  body-fetichism  in  purely  subjective  psychical 
states.  The  concentration  of  the  sexual  interest  on  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  the  body  that  has  no  direct  relation  to  sex 
(as  have  the  mammse  and  external  genitals) — a  peculiarity 
to  be  emphasised — often  leads  body-fetichists  to  such  a 
condition  that  they  do  not  regard  coitus  as  the  real  means 
of  sexual  gratification,  but  rather  some  form  of  manipula- 
tion of  that  portion  of  the  body  that  is  effectual  as  a  fetich. 
This  perverse  instinct  of  body-fetichists  may  be  taken  as 
the  pathological  criterion,  no  matter  whether  actual  coitus 
is  still  possible  or  not. 

Fetichism  of  inanimate  ohjects  or  articles  of  dress,  how- 
ever, in  all  cases,  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  pathological 
phenomenon,  since  its  object  falls  without  the  circle  of 
normal  sexual  stimuli.    But  even  here,  in  the  phenomena, 


FETICHISM. 


221 


there  is  a  certain  outward  correspondence  with  processes  of 
the  normal  psychical  vita  sexualisj  the  inner  connection 
and  meaning  of  pathological  fetichism,  however,  are  en- 
tirely different.  In  the  ecstatic  love  of  a  man  mentally 
normal,  a  handkerchief  or  shoe,  a  glove  or  letter,  the  flower 
"she  gave,'^  or  a  lock  of  hair,  etc.,  may  become  the  object 
of  worship,  but  only  because  they  represent  a  mnemonic 
symbol  of  the  beloved  person — absent  or  dead — whose 
whole  personality  is  reproduced  by  them.  The  pathologi- 
cal fetichist  has  no  such  relations.  The  fetich  constitutes 
the  entire  content  of  his  idea.  When  he  becomes  aware 
of  its  presence,  sexual  excitement  occurs,  and  the  fetich 
makes  itself  felt.^ 

According  to  all  observations  thus  far  made,  patho- 
logical fetichism  seems  to  arise  only  on  the  basis  of  a 
psychopathic  constitution  that  is  for  the  most  part  heredi- 
tary, or  on  the  basis  of  existent  mental  disease. 

Thus  it  happens  that  it  not  infrequently  appears  com- 
bined with  the  other  (original)  sexual  perversions  that 
arise  on  the  same  basis.  Not  infrequently  fetichism  occurs 
in  the  most  various  forms  in  combination  with  inverted 
sexuality,  sadism,  and  masochism.  Indeed,  certain  forms 
of  body-f etichism  (hand-  and  foot-fetichism)  probably  have 
a  more  or  less  distinct  connection  with  the  latter  two  per- 
versions (v.  infra). 

But  if  fetichism  also  rests  upon  a  congenital  general 
psychopathic  disposition,  yet  this  perversion  is  not,  like 
those  previously  considered,  essentially  of  an  original  na- 
ture ;  it  is  not  congenitally  perfect,  as  we  may  well  assume 
sadism  and  masochism  to  be. 

While  in  the  sexual  perversions  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters  we  have  met  only  cases  of  a  congenital 
type,  here  we  meet  only  acquired  cases.  Aside  from  the 
fact  that  often  in  fetichism  the  causative  circumstance  of 

iln  Zola's  "Therese  Raquin,"  where  the  lover  repeatedly  kisses  his 
mistress's  boot,  the  case  is  quite  different  from  that  of  shoe-  and  boot- 
fetichists,  who,  at  the  sight  of  every  boot  worn  by  a  lady,  or  even 
alone,  are  thrown  into  sexual  excitement,  even  to  the  extent  of  ejacu- 
lation. 


222 


PSTCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


its  acquirement  is  traced,  yet  the  physiological  conditions 
are  wanting,  which  in  sadism  and  masochism,  by  means  of 
sexual  hypersesthesia,  are  intensified  to  perversions,  and 
justify  the  assumption  of  congenital  origin.  In  fetichism, 
every  case  requires  an  event  which  affords  the  ground  for 
the  perversion. 

As  has  been  said,  it  is,  of  course,  physiological  in  sexual 
life  to  be  partial  to  one  or  another  of  woman's  charms, 
and  to  be  enthusiastic  about  it;  but  concentration  of  the 
entire  sexual  interest  on  such  partial  impression  is  here 
the  essential  thing;  and  for  this  concentration  there  must 
be  a  particular  reason  in  every  individual  affected.  There- 
fore, we  may  accept  Binefs  conclusion  that  in  the  life  of 
every  fetichist  there  may  he  assumed  to  have  been  some 
event  which  determined  the  association  of  lustful  feeling 
with  the  single  impression.  This  event  must  be  sought  for 
in  the  time  of  early  youth,  and,  as  a  rule,  occurs  in  connec- 
tion with  the  first  awakening  of  the  vita  sexualis.  This 
first  awakening  is  associated  with  some  partial  sexual  im- 
pression (since  it  is  always  a  thing  standing  in  some  rela- 
tion to  woman), ^  and  stamps  it  for  life  as  the  principal 
object  of  sexual  interest.  The  circumstances  under  which 
the  association  arises  are  usually  forgotten;  the  result  of 
the  association  alone  is  retained.  The  general  predisposi- 
tion to  psychopathic  states  and  the  sexual  hyperaesthesia  of 
such  individuals  are  all  that  is  original  here.^ 

^Cf.  "Arbeiten,"  iv.,  p.  172.  Case  of  ring  fetichism;  p.  174, 
mourning  crape  fetichism  in  homosexual  persons. 

^Though  Binet  (op.  cit,)  declares  that  every  sexual  perversion, 
without  exception,  depends  upon  such  an  "  accident  acting  on  a 
predisposed  subject"  (where,  under  predisposition,  only  hyper- 
aesthesia  in  general  is  understood),  yet  such  an  assumption  for  other 
perversions  than  fetichism  is  neither  necessary  nor  satisfactory.  For 
example,  it  is  not  clear  how  the  sight  of  another's  chastisement 
could  excite  sexually  even  a  very  excitable  individual,  if  the  physio- 
logical relationship  of  lust  and  cruelty  had  not  been  developed  into 
origmal  sadism  in  an  abnormally  excitable  individual.  As  the 
sadistic  and  masochistic  associations  are  performed  in  the  mind  of 
the  subject  from  homogeneous  elements  in  adjacent  spheres,  in  the 
same  measure  is  the  possibility  of  fetichistic  associations  prepared 


FETICHISM. 


223 


Like  the  other  perversions  thus  far  considered,  erotic 
(pathological)  fetichism  may  also  express  itself  in  strange, 
unnatural,  and  even  criminal  acts:  gratification  with  the 
female  person  loco  indehitOy  theft  and  robbery  of  objects  of 
fetichism,  pollution  of  such  objects,  etc.  Here,  too,  it  only 
depends  upon  the  intensity  of  the  perverse  impulse  and 
the  relative  power  of  opposing  ethical  motives,  whether 
and  to  what  extent  such  acts  are  performed. 

These  perverse  acts  of  fetichists,  like  those  of  other 
sexually  perverse  individuals,  may  either  alone  constitute 
the  entire  external  vita  sexualisy  or  occur  parallel  with 
the  normal  sexual  act.  This  depends  upon  the  condition 
of  physical  and  psychical  sexual  power,  and  the  degree  of 
excitability  to  normal  stimuli  that  has  been  retained. 
Where  excitability  is  diminished,  not  infrequently  the 
sight  or  touch  of  the  fetich  serves  as  a  necessary  pre- 
paratory act. 

The  great  practical  importance  which  attaches  to  tha 
facts  of  fetichism,  in  accordance  with  what  has  been  said, 
lies  in  two  factors.  In  the  first  place,  pathological  fetich- 
ism is  not  infrequently  a  cause  of  psychical  impotence,^ 
Since  the  object  upon  which  the  sexual  interest  of  the 
fetichist  is  concentrated  stands,  in  itself,  in  no  immediate 
relation  to  the  normal  sexual  act,  it  often  happens  that 
the  fetichist  diminishes  his  excitability  to  normal  stimuli 
by  his  perversion,  or,  at  least,  is  capable  of  coitus  only 

by  the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  object  and  thus  easier  understood.  In 
nearly  every  instance  it  is  impressions  of  parts  of  the  female  form 
(including  garments)  that  are  in  question.  Fetichistic  association 
which  originated  only  by  mere  accident  can  only  be  traced  in  a  few 
special  cases. 

^  When  young  husbands  who  have  associated  much  with  prosti- 
tutes feel  impotent  in  the  face  of  the  chastity  of  their  young  wives — 
a  thing  of  frequent  occurrence — the  condition  may  be  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  (psychical)  fetichism  in  a  wider  sense.  One  of  my  patients 
was  never  potent  with  his  beautiful  and  chaste  young  wife,  because 
he  was  accustomed  to  the  lascivious  methods  of  prostitutes.  When 
he  now  and  then  attempted  coitus  with  puellis  he  was  perfectly 
potent.  Hammond  {op.  cit.  pp.  48,  49)  reports  a  very  similar 
interesting  case.  Of  course,  in  such  cases,  a  bad  conscience  and 
hypochoadariacal  fear  of  impotence  play  an  important  part. 


224' 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


by  means  of  concentration  of  liis  fancy  upon  his  feticli. 

In  this  perversion,  and  in  the  difficulty  of  its  adequate 
gratification,  just  as  in  the  other  perversions  of  the  sexual 
instinct,  lie  conditions  favouring  psychical  and  physical 
onanism,  which  again  reacts  deleteriously  on  the  constitu- 
tion and  sexual  power.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  case 
of  youthful  individuals,  and  particularly  in  the  case  of 
those  who,  on  account  of  opposing  ethical  and  aesthetic 
motives,  shrink  from  the  realisation  of  their  perverse  de- 
sires. 

Secondly,  fetichism  is  of  great  forensic  importance. 
Just  as  sadism  may  extend  to  murder  and  the  infliction  of 
bodily  injury,  fetichism  may  lead  to  theft  and  even  to 
robbery  for  the  possession  of  the  desired  articles. 

Erotic  fetichism  has  for  its  object  either  a  certain 
portion  of  the  body  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex,  or 
a  certain  article  or  material  of  v/earing  apparel  of  the 
opposite  sex.  (Only  cases  of  pathological  fetichism  in 
men  have  thus  far  been  observed,  and  therefore  only 
portions  of  the  female  person  and  attire  are  spoken  of 
here.)  In  accordance  with  this,  fetichists  fall  into  three 
groups. 

(a)  The  Fetich  is  a  Part  of  the  Female  Body. 

Just  as,  in  physiological  fetichism,  the  eye,  the  hand, 
the  foot  and  the  hair  of  woman  frequently  become  fetiches, 
so,  in  the  pathological  domain,  the  same  portions  of  the 
body  become  the  sole  objects  of  sexual  interest.  This  ex- 
clusive concentration  of  interest  on  these  parts,  by  the 
side  of  which  everything  else  feminine  fades,  and  all  other 
sexual  value  of  woman  may  sink  to  mZ,  so  that,  instead  of 
coitus,  strange  manipulations  of  the  fetich  become  the 
object  of  desire, — this  it  is  that  makes  these  cases  patho- 
logical. 

Case  88.  {Binet,  op.  cit.)  X.,  aged  thirty-four, 
teacher  in  a  gymnasium.     In  childhood  he  suffered  from 


FETICHISM. 


225 


convulsions.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  began  to  masturbate, 
with  lustful  feelings,  which  were  connected  with  very 
strange  ideas.  He  was  particularly  partial  to  women's 
eyes ;  but  since  he  wished  to  imagine  some  form  of  coitus, 
and  was  absolutely  innocent  in  sexual  matters,  to  avoid 
too  great  a  separation  from  the  eyes,  he  evolved  the  idea 
of  making  the  nostrils  the  seat  of  the  female  sexual  organs. 
Then  his  vivid  sexual  desires  revolved  around  this  idea. 
He  sketched  drawings  representing  correct  Greek  profiles 
of  female  heads,  but  the  nostrils  were  so  large  that 
immissio  penis  would  have  been  possible. 

One  day,  in  an  omnibus,  he  saw  a  girl  in  whom  he 
thought  he  recognised  his  ideal.  He  followed  her  to  her 
home  and  imanediately  proposed  to  her.  Shown  the  door, 
he  returned  again  and  again,  until  arrested.  X.  never  had 
sexual  intercourse. 

ITose  fetichism  is  but  seldomly  met  with.  The  follow- 
ing rare  bit  of  poetry  comes  to  me  from  England : — 

"  Oh !  sweet  and  pretty  little  nose,  so  charming  unto  me ; 
Oh,  were  I  but  the  sweetest  rose,  I'd  give  my  scent  to  thee. 
Oh,  make  it  full  with  honey  sweet,  that  I  may  suck  it  all; 
T'would  be  for  me  the  greatest  treat,  a  real  festival. 
How  sweet  and  how  nutritious  your  darling  nose  does  seem; 
It  would  be  more  delicious,  than  strawberries  and  cream.** 

Hand-fetichists  are  very  numerous.  The  following 
case  is  not  really  pathological.  It  is  given  here  as  a  transi- 
tional one : — 

Case  89.  B.,  of  neuropathic  family,  very  sensual 
mentally  intact.  At  the  sight  of  the  hand  of  a  beautiful 
young  lady  he  was  always  charmed  and  felt  sexual  excite- 
ment to  the  extent  of  erection.  It  was  his  delight  to  kiss 
and  press  such  hands.  As  long  as  they  were  covered  with 
gloves  he  felt  unhappy.  By  pretexts  he  tried  to  get  hold 
of  such  hands.  He  was  indifferent  to  the  foot.  If  the 
beautiful  hands  were  ornamented  with  rings,  his  lust  was 
increased.  Only  the  living  hand,  not  its  image,  caused 
him  this  lustful  excitement.    It  was  only  when  he  wag 

15 


226 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


exhausted  sexually  by  frequent  coitus  that  the  hand 
lost  its  sexual  charm.  At  first  the  memory-picture  of 
female  hands  disturbed  him  even  while  at  work  (Binet^  op. 
cit.). 

Binet  states  that  such  cases  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
female  hand  are  numerous.  Here  it  may  be  recalled  that, 
according  to  case  25,  a  man  may  be  partial  to  the  female 
hand  as  a  result  of  sadistic  impulses;  and  that,  according 
to  case  52,  the  same  thing  may  be  due  to  masochistic 
desires.  Thus  such  cases  have  more  than  one  meaning. 
But  it  does  by  no  means  follow  that  all,  or  even  a  majority, 
of  the  cases  of  hand-fetichism  allow  or  require  a  sadistic 
or  masochistic  explanation. 

The  following  interesting  case,  that  has  been  studied 
in  detail,  shows  that,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  at  first  a 
sadistic  or  masochistic  element  seems  to  have  exercised 
an  influence,  at  the  time  of  the  individual's  maturity 
and  the  complete  development  of  the  perversion,  the 
latter  contained  nothing  of  these  elements.  Of  course, 
it  is  possible  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  they  disappeared ; 
but  here  the  assumption  of  the  origin  of  the  fetichism  in 
an  accidental  association  meets  every  requirement: — 

Case  90.  A  case  of  hand-fetichism.,  communicated 
by  Albert  Moll.  P.  L.,  aged  twenty-eight,  a  merchant  in 
Westphalia.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  the  patient's  father 
was  remarkably  moody  and  somewhat  quick-tempered, 
nothing  of  an  hereditary  nature  could  be  proved  in  the 
family.  At  school  the  patient  was  not  very  diligent;  he 
was  never  able  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  any  one  sub- 
ject for  any  length  of  time;  on  the  other  hand,  from  child- 
hood he  had  a  great  inclination  for  music.  His  tem- 
perament was  always  nervous. 

In  August,  1890,  he  came  to  me  complaining  of  head- 
ache and  abdominal  pain,  which  in  every  way  gave  the 
impression  of  being  neurasthenic.  The  patient  also  said 
he  was  destitute  of  energy.  Only  after  accurately  directed 
questions  did  the  patient  make  the  following  statements 


FETICHISM, 


227 


concerning  his  sexual  life.   As  far  as  lie  could  remember, 

the  beginning  of  sexual  excitement  occurred  in  his  seventh 
year.    Whenever  he  saw  a  boy  of  his  own  age  urinate  and 
caught  sight  of  his  genitals,  he  became  lustfully  excited. 
L.  states  with  certainty  that  this  excitement  was  associated 
with  strongly  accentuated  erections.    Led  astray  by  an- 
other boy,  L.  learned  to  masturbate  at  the  age  of  seven  or 
eight.    ^^Being  of  a  very  excitable  nature,^'  said  L.,  ^^I 
practised  masturbation  very  frequently  until  my  eighteenth 
year,  without  gaining  any  clear  idea  of  the  evil  results  or 
the  meaning  of  the  practice/^    He  was  particularly  fond 
of  practising  mutual  onanism  with  some  of  his  school- 
friends,  but  it  was  by  no  means  an  indifferent  matter  who 
the  other  boy  was ;  on  the  contrary,  only  a  few  of  his  com- 
panions could  satisfy  him  in  this  respect.    To  the  question 
as  to  what  particularly  caused  him  to  prefer  this  or  that 
boy,  L.  replied  that  a  white,  beautifully  formed  hand  in  his 
school-fellow  impelled  him  to  practise  mutual  onanism 
with  him.    L.  further  remembered  that  frequently,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  gymnastic  lesson,  he  would  exercise  by 
himself  on  a  bar  standing  apart.    He  did  this  for  the 
purpose  of  exciting  himself  as  much  as  possible,  and  he 
was  so  successful  that,  without  using  his  hand  and  without 
ejaculation — L.  was  still  too  young — he  had  lustful  plea- 
sure.   Another  early  event  which  L.  remembered  is  inter- 
esting.   One  day  his  favourite  companion,  IST.,  who  prac- 
tised mutual  onanism  with  him,  proposed  that  L.  should 
try  to  get  hold  of  his  (N.'s)  penis,  and  he  would  do  all 
he  could  to  prevent  it.    L.  acquiesced.    In  this  way  onan- 
ism was  directly  combined  with  a  struggle  between  both 
parties,  in  which  N.  was  always  conquered.    The  struggle 
was  finally  ended  in  N.'s  being  compelled  to  allow  L.  to 
practice  onanism  on  him.    L.  assured  me  that  this  kind  of 
masturbation  had  given  him,  as  well  as  N.,  especial  pleas- 
ure.   In  this  way  L.  continued  to  practice  masturbation 
very  frequently  until  his  eighteenth  year.    Warned  by  a 
friend,  he  then  began  to  struggle  with  all  his  might  against 
this  evil  habit.   He  became  more  and  more  successful,  and 


228 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


finally,  after  the  first  performance  of  coitus,  he  stopped 
the  practice  of  onanism  entirely.  But  this  was  only  ac- 
complished in  his  twenty-second  year.  It  now  seemed 
incomprehensible  to  the  patient — and  he  said  he  was  filled 
with  disgust  at  the  thought — how  he  could  ever  have  found 
pleasure  in  performing  masturbation  with  other  boys. 
J^ow,  nothing  could  induce  him  to  touch  another  man's 
genitals,  the  sight  of  which  was  even  unpleasant  to  him. 
He  had  lost  all  inclination  for  men,  and  felt  attracted  by 
women  exclusively. 

It  must  be  mentioned,  however,  that  although  L.  had 
a  decided  inclination  for  the  female  sex,  he  presented  an 
abnormal  phenomenon. 

The  essential  thing  in  woman  that  excited  him  was  the 
sight  of  her  beautiful  hands;  L.  was  far  more  impressed 
when  he  touched  a  beautiful  female  hand  than  he  would 
have  been  had  he  seen  its  possessor  in  a  state  of  complete 
nudity.  The  extent  to  which  L.'s  preference  for  beautiful 
female  hands  went  is  shown  by  the  following  incident: — 

L.  knew  a  beautiful  yoimg  lady  possessed  of  every 
charm,  but  her  hands  were  quite  large  and  not  beautifully 
formed,  and  often  they  were  not  as  clean  as  L.  could  wish. 
For  this  reason  it  was  not  only  impossible  for  L.  to  con- 
ceive a  deeper  interest  in  the  lady,  but  he  was  not  able 
even  to  touch  her.  L.  believed  that  there  was  nothing  more 
disgusting  to  him  than  dirty  finger-nails ;  this  alone  would 
make  it  impossible  for  him  to  touch  a  woman  who  in  all 
other  respects  was  most  beautiful.  L.  formerly,  as  a 
substitute  for  coitus,  induced  the  puella  to  perform  genital 
manipulation  with  her  hand  until  ejaculation  took  place. 

To  the  question  as  to  what  there  was  about  a  woman's 
hand  that  attracted  him  in  particular,  whether  he  saw  in 
it  a  symbol  of  power,  and  whether  it  gave  him  pleasure  to 
be  directly  humiliated  by  a  woman,  the  patient  answered 
that  only  the  beautiful  form  of  the  hand  charmed  him; 
that  it  afforded  him  no  gratification  to  be  humiliated  by  a 
woman ;  and  that  he  had  never  had  any  thought  to  regard 
the  hand  as  the  symbol  or  instrument  of  a  woman's  power. 


FETICHISM. 


229 


The  preference  for  the  hand  was  still  so  great  that  the 
patient  had  greater  pleasure  when  his  genitals  were  touched 
by  it  that  when  he  performed  coitus  in  vaginam.  Yet,  the 
patient  preferred  to  perform  the  latter,  because  it  seemed 
to  him  to  be  natural,  while  the  former  seemed  abnormal. 
The  touch  of  a  beautiful  female  hand  on  his  body  imme- 
diately caused  him  to  have  erection;  he  thought  that  kiss- 
ing and  other  contacts  do  not  exert  nearly  so  strong  an 
influence.  It  was  only  of  late  years  that  the  patient  had 
performed  coitus  frequently,  but  it  had  always  been  very 
dilRcult  for  him  to  determine  to  do  it.  Moreover,  in  coitus, 
he  did  not  find  the  complete  satisfaction  he  sought.  How- 
ever, when  he  found  himself  near  a  woman  whom  he  would 
like  to  possess,  sometimes,  at  mere  sight  of  her,  his  sexual 
excitement  became  so  intense  that  ejaculation  resulted. 
L.  said  expressly  that  during  this  process  he  did  not  in- 
tentionally touch  or  press  his  genitals;  ejaculation  under 
such  circumstances  afforded  him  much  more  pleasure  than 
he  experienced  in  actual  coitus.^ 

To  go  back,  the  patient's  dreams  were  never  about 
coitus.  When  he  had  pollutions  at  night,  they  were  almost 
always  associated  with  other  thoughts  than  those  that 
occur  to  the  normal  man.  The  patient's  dreams  were  of 
events  of  his  school-days,  when,  besides  the  mutual  onan- 
ism described,  he  had  ejaculations  whenever  he  became 
anxiously  excited.  When,  for  example,  the  teacher  dic- 
tated an  extemporaneous  exercise,  and  L.  was  unable  to 
follow  in  translation,  ejaculation  often  occurred.^  The 
pollutions  that  now  occurred  occasionally,  at  night,  were 

^  Great  sexual  hypersestliesia. 

^This  is  also  sexual  hypersestliesia.  Any  intense  excitement 
affects  the  sexual  sphere  (Binet's  "  Dynamog^nie  g^n^rale").  Con- 
cerning this  Dr.  Moll  communicates  the  following  case:  "A  similar 
thing  is  described  by  Mr.  E.,  aged  twenty- seven ;  merchant.  While 
at  school,  and  afterward,  he  often  had  ejaculation  with  pleasurable 
feeling  when  he  was  seized  with  a  spell  of  intense  anxiety.  Besides, 
almost  every  other  physical  or  mental  pain  exerted  a  similar 
influence.  E.,  as  he  stated,  had  a  normal  sexual  instinct,  but  suffered 
with  nervous  impotence." 


230 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


only  accompanied  by  dreams  that  had  the  same  or  a  similar 
subject — i.e. J,  the  events  at  school  just  mentioned.  On 
account  of  his  unnatural  feeling  and  sensibility  the  patient 
thought  he  was  incapable  of  loving  a  woman  permanently. 
Treatment  of  the  patient's  perversion  was  not  possible. 

This  case  of  hand-fetichism  certainly  does  not  depend 
on  masochism  or  sadism^  but  is  to  be  explained  simply 
on  the  ground  of  early  indulgence  in  mutual  onanism. 
ITeither  is  there  antipathic  sexual  instinct.  Before  the 
sexual  appetite  was  clearly  conscious  of  its  object,  the 
hands  of  school-fellows  were  used.  As  soon  as  the  instinct 
for  the  opposite  sex  became  evident,  the  interest  for  the 
hand  was  transferred  to  that  of  woman. 

In  hand  fetichists,  who  according  to  Binet,  are  numer- 
ous, it  is  possible  that  other  associations  lead  to  the  same 
result. 

Next  to  the  hand-fetichists,  naturally  come  the  foot- 
fetichists.  While  glove-fetichism,  which  belongs  to  the 
next  group  of  object-fetichism,  seldom  takes  the  place  of 
hand-fetichism,  we  find  shoe-  and  boot-fetichism,  of  which 
there  are  innumerable  cases  occurring  everywhere,  taking 
the  place  of  enthusiasm  for  the  naked  female  foot.  It  is 
easy  to  see  the  reason  for  this.  The  female  hand  is 
usually  seen  uncovered;  the  foot,  covered.  Thus  the 
early  associations  which  determine  the  direction  of  the 
vita  sexualis  are  naturally  connected  with  the  naked  hand, 
but  with  the  foot  when  covered. 

This  assumption  is  certainly  correct  with  regard  to 
those  who  have  grown  up  in  large  cities,  and  easily  explains 
the  scarcity  of  foot-fetichism,^  which  will  be  elucidated 
by  the  following  cases. 

Case  91.  Poot-feticMsm.  Acquired  inverted  sexuality . 

^Exceptions  are  the  cases  of  latent  masochism  in  the  form  of 
Koprolagnia  in  which  case  the  fetichistic  stimulus  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  clean  naked  foot  but  e  contra,  cf.  case  8G. 


FETICHISM. 


231 


Mr.  Xo,  civil  servant,  twenty-nine  years  of  age;  mother 
neuropathic,  father  diabetic. 

Had  good  mental  qualities,  was  of  nervous  disposition, 
but  never  suffered  from  nervous  disease,  showed  no  signs 
of  degeneration.  Patient  distinctly  recalled  that  even  at 
the  age  of  six  he  became  sexually  excited  when  he  saw 
the  naked  feet  of  women,  and  was  impelled  to  follow  them, 
or  watch  them  when  at  work. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  slipped  one  night  into  the 
room  where  his  sister  slept  and  kissed  her  foot.  At  the 
age  of  eight  he  began  spontaneously  to  masturbate,  think- 
ing all  the  while  of  the  naked  feet  of  women. 

When  sixteen  he  often  took  shoes  and  stockings  of 
servant  girls  to  bed  with  him;  and  whilst  fingering  them 
excited  himself  into  masturbation. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  began  sexual  intercourse 
with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex.  He  had  full  power,  and 
coitus  satisfied  him  without  the  aid  of  a  fetich.  For 
males  he  had  not  the  slightest  sexual  inclination,  neither 
had  the  feet  of  men  any  attraction  for  him. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  a  great  change  came  over 
his  sexual  feelings  and  his  physical  condition. 

Patient  became  neurasthenic  and  began  to  experience 
sexual  inclination  to  males.  'No  doubt  excessive  mastur- 
bation brought  about  neurosis  and  inverted  sexuality  to 
which  he  was  led  by  libido  nimia  remaining  unsated  by 
coitus,  and  by  the  sight  (accidental  or  otherwise)  of  female 
feet. 

As  neurasthenia  (at  first  sexualis)  increased,  a  rapid 
cessation  of  libido^  power  and  gratification,  with  regard 
to  women  set  in.  Parallel  with  this,  inclination  towards 
his  own  sex  developed  and  his  fetichism  was  transferred 
to  males. 

With  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  had  coitus  cum  muliere 
but  rarely,  and  without  satisfaction.  He  had  lost  nearly 
all  interest  in  the  foot  of  woman.  The  craving  to  have 
sexual  intercourse  with  men  grew  daily  stronger.  When 
lie  was  transferred  to  a  large  city  he  found  the  long- 


232 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


wished-for  opportunity  and  actually  revelled  with  intense 
passion  in  this  unnatural  love. 

He  ejaculated  during  these  acts  with  the  utmost  volup- 
tuousness. By-and-by  the  sight  of  a  sympathetic  man, 
especially  if  he  were  barefooted,  sufficed  him. 

His  nocturnal  pollutions  had  now  for  their  object 
intercourse  with  men,  and,  to  be  sure,  in  the  fetichistic 
sense  (feet).  Shoes  did  not  interest  him.  The  naked  foot 
was  his  charm.  He  often  felt  impelled  to  follow  men  in 
the  street,  hoping  to  find  occasion  for  taking  off  their 
shoes.  As  a  substitute  he  went  barefooted  himself.  At 
times  he  was  driven  to  walk  along  the  street  in  his  bare 
feet,  thereby  experiencing  the  most  intense  lustful  feelings. 
If  he  resisted,  agony,  trembling,  and  palpitation  of  the 
heart  set  in.  Often  at  nights  he  yielded  to  this  impulse 
for  hours,  even  in  stormy,  rainy  weather,  not  minding  the 
many  risks  and  personal  dangers  to  which  he  exposed 
himself  by  so  doing. 

He  would  carry  the  shoes  in  his  hand,  became  sexually 
excited,  and  only  found  satisfaction  in  spontaneous,  or 
induced  ejaculation.  He  felt  envious  of  navvies  and  the 
poor  who  could  go  barefoot  without  attracting  attention. 

His  happiest  moments  were  the  time  Avhich  he  spent 
in  an  hydropathic  establishment,  a  la  Kneipp,  where  he 
was  allowed  to  go  barefoot  with  the  other  men  under 
treatment. 

An  awkward  affair,  the  result  of  his  perverse  sexual 
practices  sobered  him.  He  sought  safety  from  his  un- 
natural sexual  existence  by  consulting  a  physician  who 
sent  him  to  me. 

The  patient  did  his  utmost  to  abstain  from  masturba- 
tion and  perverse  connection  with  men.  He  underwent 
treatment  for  neurasthenia  in  an  hydropathic  institute, 
regained  some  interest  in  the  gentle  sex — his  foot-fetich- 
ism  serving  as  a  bridge — had  once,  with  a  degree  of  plea- 
sure, coitus  with  a  barefooted  peasant  girl  who  acceded 
to  his  wishes,  and  later  on  visited  puellas  a  few  times  but 
without  gratification.    Then  he  turned  again  to  persons 


FETICHISM. 


233 


of  his  own  sex,  backslided  totally,  felt  irresistibly  drawn 
to  tramps  and  farm  labourers,  whom  he  paid  for  the 
favour  to  kiss  their  feet.  An  attempt  to  rescue  the  unfor- 
tunate man  by  suggestive  treatment  was  wrecked  on  the 
impossibility  to  remove  an  enervation  which  was  beyond 
therapeutic  aid. 

Case  92.  Foot-feticMsm  with  continued  hetero-sex- 
iiality,  Mr.  Y.,  fifty  years  of  age,  bachelor,  belonged  to 
high  society.  Consulted  a  physician  on  account  of  ^^ner- 
vous'^  troubles.  Tainted,  from  childhood  nervous,  very 
sensitive  to  cold  and  heat,  troubled  with  delusions  which 
assumed  the  character  of  transient  dementia  persecutoria, 
For  instance,  when  he  sat  in  a  restaurant  he  imagined 
that  everybody  stared  at  him,  talked  about,  and  made 
fim  of  him.  As  soon  as  he  rose  this  feeling  left  him  and 
he  no  longer  believed  his  fancies. 

He  never  felt  settled  for  any  length  of  time,  and 
moved  about  from  one  place  to  another.  At  times  it 
happened  that  he  engaged  rooms  at  a  hotel,  but  never 
went  there  on  account  of  his  peculiar  delusions. 

He  never  had  much  libido.  All  his  sentiments  were 
heterosexual.  ISTow  and  then  he  found  gratification  in 
coitus  which  he  claimed  to  have  been  normal. 

Y.  admitted  that  his  sexual  life  was  peculiar  from  early 
youth.  Neither  women  nor  men  excited  him  sexually, 
but  the  sight  of  female  feet,  be  they  of  children  or  grown- 
up women,  would  do  so.  All  other  parts  of  the  female 
body  had  no  attraction  for  him. 

If  by  chance  he  could  see  the  naked  feet  of  female 
gipsies  or  tramps  he  could  gaze  at  them  by  the  hour  and 
was  driven  by  a  ^'terrible"  impulse  terere  genitalia  propria 
ad  pedes  illarum.  Thus  far  he  had  successfully  resisted 
this  impulse. 

What  annoyed  him  most  was  to  see  these  feet  covered 
with  dirt.  He  would  like  to  see  them  well  washed  and 
clean.  He  could  not  say  how  this  fetichism  originated  in 
him  (from  a  communication  of  Professor  Forel). 


234 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Moll  in  his  recent  researches  in  libido  sexualisj  p.  288, 
relates  a  most  interesting  case  of  foot-fetichism  which 
resembles  case  91  above^  in  so  far  as  the  patient  by  force 
of  the  fetich  became  homosexual. 

Shoe-fetichism  also  finds  its  place  in  the  following 
group  of  dress-f etichism ;  however,  on  account  of  its 
demonstrable  masochistic  character  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  it  has  been,  for  the  most  part,  described  already 
above. 

Besides  the  eye,  hand  and  foot,  the  mouth  and  ear  often 
play  the  role  of  a  fetich.  Among  others,  Moll  (op.  cit.) 
mentions  such  cases.  (Cf.  Belofs  romance,  ^^La  Bouche 
de  Madame  X.,'^  which,  B.  states,  rests  upon  actual  ob- 
servation.) 

The  following  remarkable  case  comes  under  my  per- 
sonal observation : — 

Case  93.  A  gentleman  of  very  bad  heredity  con- 
sulted me  concerning  impotence  that  was  driving  him  al- 
most to  despair.  While  he  was  young,  his  fetich  was 
women  of  plump  form.  He  married  such  a  lady,  and  was 
happy  and  potent  with  her.  After  a  few  months  the  lady 
fell  very  ill,  and  lost  much  flesh.  When,  one  day,  he  tried 
to  resume  his  marital  duty,  he  was  absolutely  impotent,  and 
remained  so.  If,  however,  he  attempted  coitus  with  plump 
women,  he  was  perfectly  potent. 

Even  bodily  defects  become  fetiches. 

Case  94.  X.,  twenty-eight  years  of  age;  family 
heavily  tainted ;  neurasthenic ;  want  of  self-confidence  and 
frequent  depression  of  mind,  with  fits  of  suicidal  inten- 
tions, which  he  had  great  trouble  to  ward  off.  The  smallest 
worries  threw  him  out  of  temper,  and  filled  him  with 
despair.  He  was  an  engineer  in  a  factory  in  Russian- 
Poland,  a  man  of  robust  frame,  without  signs  of  degenera- 
tion.   He  complained  of  a  peculiar  mania,  which  caused 


FETICHISM. 


235 


him  to  doubt  his  sanity.  Since  his  seventeenth  year  he 
became  sexually  excited  at  the  sight  of  physical  defects 
in  women,  especially  lameness  and  disfigured  feet.  He  was 
not  conscious  of  the  original  associative  connection  be^ 
tween  his  libido  and  these  defects  in  women. 

Ever  since  puberty  he  had  been  under  the  bane  of  this 
fetichism,  which  was  painful  to  himself.  Normal  women 
had  no  attraction  for  him.  If  a  woman,  however,  was 
afiiicted  with  lameness  or  with  contorted  or  disfigured  feet^ 
she  exercised  a  powerful  sensual  influence  over  him,  no 
matter  whether  she  was  otherwise  pretty  or  ugly. 

In  his  dreams,  accompanied  by  pollutions,  the  forms  of 
halting  women  were  ever  before  him.  At  times  he  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  to  imitate  their  gait,  which  caused 
vehement  orgasm,  with  lustful  ejaculation.  He  claimed  to 
have  strong  libido,  and  suffered  intensely  when  his  sexual 
desire  remained  unsatisfied.  Despite  these  facts,  he  had 
coitus  for  the  first  time  when  he  was  twenty-two  years  of 
age,  and  then  but  five  times.  He  felt,  however,  not  the 
slightest  satisfaction  in  spite  of  complete  ability.  He 
thought  it  would  cause  him  intense  pleasure  if  he  had  the 
chance  to  mate  with  a  halting  woman.  At  any  rate,  he 
could  never  marry  any  other  than  a  lame  woman. 

Since  his  twentieth  year  the  patient  manifested  fetich- 
ism  for  garments.  It  often  sufficed  him  to  put  on  female 
stockings,  shoes  and  drawers.  He  bought  such  wearing 
apparel  at  times  and,  putting  it  on  secretly,  became  lust- 
fully excited  and  ejaculated.  Garments  which  had  been 
worn  by  women  had  no  attraction  for  him.  He  would 
fain  prefer  to  wear  female  garb,  so  as  to  keep  up  sensual 
emotions,  but  had  not  yet  dared  to  do  so  for  fear  of  being 
detected. 

His  vita  sexudlis  was  reduced  to  these  practices.  He 
was  definite  in  asserting  that  he  never  was  addicted  to  mas- 
turbation. Quite  recently  he  had  been,  in  consequence  of 
his  neurasthenic  afflictions,  much  troubled  with  pollutions. 

Case  95.    Z.,  gentleman,  family  tainted.    Even  in 


236 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


early  childhood  always  felt  great  sympathy  with  the  lame 
and  the  halt.  He  used  to  limp  about  the  room  on  two 
brooms  in  lieu  of  crutches,  or  when  unobserved,  go  limping 
about  the  streets;  but  at  that  time  no  sexual  significance 
was  coupled  with  the  idea.  Gradually  the  thought  super- 
vened that  he  would  like  "as  a  pretty  lame  child"  to  meet 
a  pretty  girl  who  would  express  sympathy  with  his  afflic- 
tion. Sympathy  from  men  he  disdained.  Z.  was  brought 
up  in  a  rich  man's  house  by  a  private  tutor,  and  claimed 
that  he  was  unaware  of  the  difference  in  sexes  up  to  his 
twentieth  year.  His  feelings  were  confined  to  the  idea  of 
being  pitied  by  a  pretty  girl  for  being  lame,  or  extending 
the  same  sympathy  himself  to  a  lame  girl.  Gradually 
erotic  emotions  associated  themselves  with  this  fancy  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty  he  succumbed  to  a  temptation  and 
masturbated  for  the  first  time.  This  act  he  practised 
henceforth  very  often.  Neurasthenia  sexualis  supervened 
and  an  irritable  weakness  took  hold  of  him  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  very  sight  of  a  girl  with  a  halting  gait 
induced  ejaculation.  When  masturbating,  or  in  his  erotic 
dreams,  the  idea  of  the  limping  girl  was  always  the  con- 
trolling element.  The  personality  of  the  halting  girl  was 
a  matter  of  indifference  to  Z.,  his  interest  being  solely 
centered  in  the  limping  foot.  He  never  had  coitus  with 
a  girl  thus  afflicted.  He  never  felt  an  inclination  for  doing 
so  and  did  not  think  he  could  be  potent  under  the  circum- 
stances. His  perverse  fancies  only  revolved  aroimd  mas- 
turbation against  the  foot  of  a  halting  female.  At  times 
he  anchored  his  hope  on  the  thought  that  he  might  succeed 
in  winning  and  marrying  a  chaste  lame  girl,  that,  on  ac- 
count of  his  love  for  her,  she  would  take  pity  on  him  and 
free  him  of  his  crime  by  "transferring  his  love  from  the 
soul  of  her  foot  to  the  foot  of  her  soul.''  He  sought  de- 
liverance in  this  thought.  His  present  existence  was  one 
of  untold  misery. 

Case  96.  Mr.  V.,  thirty  years,  civil  servant;  parents 
neuropathic.  Since  his  seventh  year  he  had  for  a  play- 
mate a  lame  girl  of  the  same  age. 


FETICHISM. 


237 


At  the  age  of  twelve,  being  of  a  nervous  disposition  and 
hypersexually  inclined,  the  boy  began  spontaneously  to 
masturbate.  At  that  period  puberty  set  in,  and  it  lies 
beyond  doubt  that  the  first  sexual  emotions  towards  the 
other  sex  were  coincident  with  the  sight  of  the  lame  girl. 

For  ever  after  only  halting  women  excited  him  sexu- 
ally. His  fetich  was  a  pretty  lady  who,  like  the  companion 
of  his  childhood,  limped  with  the  left  foot. 

Always  heterosexual  but  abnormally  sensual  he  sought 
early  relations  with  the  opposite  sex,  but  was  absolutely 
impotent  with  women  who  were  not  lame.  Virility  and 
gratification  were  most  strongly  elicited  if  the  puella 
limped  with  the  left  foot,  but  he  was  successful  also  if 
the  lameness  was  in  the  right  foot.  As,  in  consequence 
of  his  fetichism  the  opportunities  for  coitus  occurred  but 
seldom,  he  resorted  to  masturbation,  but  found  it  a  dis- 
gusting and  miserable  substitute.  His  sexual  anomaly 
rendered  him  very  unhappy,  and  he  was  often  near  com- 
mitting suicide,  but  regard  for  his  parents  prevented  him. 

This  moral  affliction  culminated  in  the  desire  for 
marriage  with  a  sympathetic  lame  lady,  but  since  he  could 
not  love  the  soul  of  such  a  wife,  but  only  her  defect  of 
lameness,  he  considered  such  a  union  a  profanation  of 
matrimony  and  an  unbearable,  ignoble  existence.  On 
this  account  he  had  often  thought  of  resignation  and 
castration. 

When  V.  came  to  me  for  advice  I  obtained,  in  my 
examination  of  him,  only  negative  results  as  regards  signs 
of  degeneration,  nervous  disease,  etc. 

I  enlightened  the  patient  on  the  subject,  and  told  him 
that  it  was  difficult,  if  not  absolutely  impossible,  for 
medical  science  to  obliterate  a  fetichism  so  deeply  rooted 
by  old  associations,  but  expressed  the  hope  that  if  he 
made  a  limping  maid  happy  in  wedlock  he  himself  would 
find  happiness  also. 

Descartes,  who  himself  (^^Traite  des  Passions,'^ 
cxxxvi.)  expresses  some  opinions  concerning  the  origin  of 


238 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


peculiar  aflFections  in  associations  of  ideas,  was  always 
partial  to  cross-eyed  women,  because  the  object  of  his  first 
love  had  such  a  defect  (Binet^  op.  cit.). 

Lydston  {"K  Lecture  on  Sexual  Perversion/'  Chicago, 
1890)  reports  the  case  of  a  man  who  had  a  love  affair 
with  a  woman  whose  right  lower  extremity  had  been  am- 
putated. After  separation  from  her  he  searched  for  other 
women  with  a  like  defect.    A  negative  fetich ! 

A  peculiar  variety  of  body  f etichism  may  be  found  in 
the  following  case  (strongly  complicated  with  sadistic  ele- 
ments), in  which  fine  white  virgin  skin  is  the  fetich,  and 
sadism  leads  to  lustful  acts  of  cruelty  (as  an  equivalent  to 
coitus),  even  to  anthropophagy  {cf.  p.  95  et  seq.)y  for 
which  the  deeply  degenerated  and  probably  epileptic  pa- 
tient seeks  to  find  a  substitute  in  automutilation  and  auto- 
phagy. 

Case  97,  L.,  labourer,  was  arrested  because  he  had 
cut  a  large  piece  of  skin  from  his  left  forearm  with  a  pair 
of  scissors  in  a  public  park. 

He  confessed  that  for  a  long  time  he  had  been  craving 
to  eat  a  piece  of  the  fine  white  shin  of  amaiden,  and  that 
for  this  purpose  he  had  been  lying  in  wait  for  such  a  vic- 
tim with  a  pair  of  scissors ;  but,  as  he  had  been  unsuccess- 
ful, he  desisted  from  his  purpose  and  instead  had  cut  his 
own  skin. 

His  father  was  an  epileptic,  and  his  sister  was  an  imbe- 
cile. Tip  to  his  seventeenth  year  he  suffered  from  enuresis 
nocturna,  was  dreaded  by  everybody  on  account  of  his 
rough  and  irascible  nature,  and  dismissed  from  school 
because  of  his  insubordination  and  viciousness. 

He  began  onanism  at  an  early  age,  and  read  with 
preference  pious  books.  His  character  showed  traits  of 
superstition,  proneness  to  the  mystic,  and  showy  acts  of 
devotion. 

When  thirteen  his  lustful  anomaly  awoke  at  the  sight 
of  a  beautiful  young  girl  who  had  a  fine  white  skin.  The 
impulse  to  bite  off  a  piece  of  that  skin  and  eat  it  became 


PETICHISM* 


paramount  with  him.  'No  other  parts  of  the  female  body 
excited  him.  He  never  had  any  desire  for  sexual  inter- 
course, and  never  attempted  such. 

He  hoped  to  achieve  his  end  easier  with  the  aid  of 
scissors  than  with  his  teeth,  for  which  reason  he  always 
carried  a  pair  with  him  for  years.  On  several  occasions 
his  efforts  were  nearly  successful.  Since  the  previous  year 
he  found  it  most  difficult  to  bear  his  failures  any  longer, 
when  he  decided  upon  a  substitute — viz.,  each  time  when 
he  had  unsuccessfully  pursued  a  girl  he  would  cut  a  piece 
of  skin  from  his  own  arm,  thigh  or  abdomen  and  eat  it. 
Imagining  that  it  was  a  piece  of  the  skin  of  the  girl  luhom 
he  had  pursued^,  he  would  whilst  masticating  his  own  skin 
obtain  orgasm  and  ejaculation. 

Many  extensive  and  deep  wounds  and  numerous  scars 
were  found  on  his  body. 

During  the  act  of  self -mutilation,  and  for  a  long  time 
afterwards,  he  suffered  severe  pains,  but  they  were  over- 
compensated  by  the  lustful  feelings  which  he  experienced 
whilst  eating  the  raw  flesh,  especially  if  the  latter  dripped 
with  blood,  and  when  he  succeeded  in  his  illusion  that  it 
was  cutis  virginis.  The  mere  sight  of  a  knife  or  scissors 
sufficed  to  provoke  this  perverse  impulse,  which  threw 
him  into  a  state  of  anxiety,  accompanied  by  profuse  per- 
spiration, vertigo,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  craving  for 
cutis  femince.  He  must,  with  scissors  in  hand,  follow  the 
woman  that  attracted  him,  but  he  did  not  lose  conscious- 
ness or  self-control,  for  at  the  acme  of  the  crisis  he  took 
from  his  own  what  was  denied  him  from  the  body  of  the 
girl.  During  the  whole  crisis  he  had  erection  and  orgasm, 
and  at  the  very  moment  when  he  began  to  chew  the  piece  of 
his  skin  ejaculation  set  in.  After  that  he  felt  greatly 
relieved  and  comforted. 

L.  was  quite  conscious  of  the  pathological  aspect  of  his 
condition.  Of  course,  this  dangerous  character  was  sent 
to  an  insane  asylum,  where  he  attempted  suicide  (Magnan 
"Psychiatrische  Vorlesungen"). 

An  interesting  category  is  formed  by  the  hair-fetich- 


240 


PSYCHO^ATHIA  SEXUAJLIS. 


ists.  The  transition  from  ^^admirer  of  woman^s  hair" 
within  physiological  limits  to  pathological  fetichism  is 
easy.  The  beginning  of  the  pathological  series  is  formed 
by  those  cases  in  which  the  hair  of  a  woman  simply  makes 
a  sensual  impression  and  incites  to  cohabitation.  Then  fol- 
low those  in  which  virility  is  only  possible  with  a  woman 
who  possesses  this  individual  fetich.  Possibly  various 
senses  (sight,  smell,  hearing,  crepitant  sounds,  also  touch 
as  with  velvet-  and  silk-fetichists,  vide  infra)  are  drawn 
into  activity  in  this  hair-fetichism  as  they  receive  lustful 
impulses. 

The  end  of  the  series  is  formed  by  those  whom  the  hair 
of  woman  suffices  even  when  severed  from  the  body — so 
to  speak,  no  longer  a  part  of  the  living  body,  but  only 
matter,  even  a  mercantile  article — to  excite  libido  and 
sensual  gratification  by  way  of  physical  or  psychical  onan- 
ism, eventually  under  contact  of  the  genitals  with  the 
fetich.^  An  interesting  instance  of  a  hair-fetichist  belong- 
ing to  the  second  category  is  related  by  Dr.  Gemy,  under 
the  title  of  ^^Historie  des  peruques  aphrodisiaques,''  in 
"La  Medecine  Internationale,"  September,  1894. 

Case  98.  A  lady  told  Dr.  Gemy  that  in  the  bridal 
night  and  in  the  night  following  her  husband  contented 
himself  with  kissing  her,  and  running  his  fingers  through 
the  wealth  of  her  tresses.  He  then  fell  asleep.  In  the  third 
night  Mr.  X.  produced  an  immense  wig,  with  enormously 
long  hair,  and  begged  his  wife  to  put  it  on.  As  soon  as  she 
had  done  so,  he  richly  compensated  her  for  his  neglected 
marital  duties.  In  the  morning  he  showed  again  extreme 
tenderness,  whilst  he  caressed  the  wig.  When  Mrs.  X.  re- 
moved the  wig  she  lost  at  once  all  charm  for  her  husband. 

1  Gamier  ( Sadi-f etichism,  Annal.  d'hyg.)  knew  a  degenerate 
whose  fetich  was  the  hair  of  the  Mons  Veneris,  His  greatest  delight 
was  to  tear  them  out  with  his  teeth.  He  coUected  specimens  and  used 
them  for  renewed  sexual  gratification  by  biting  and  chewing  them. 
He  bribed  housemaids  of  hotels  to  let  him  search  the  beds  in  which 
ladies  had  slept  for  such  hairs.  Whilst  searching  for  them  he  be- 
came erotically  excited  and  trembled  with  happiness  when  he  made 
a  successful  find. 


FEflCIlISM. 


241 


Mrs.  X.  recognised  this  as  a  hobby,  and  readily  yielded  to 
the  wishes  of  her  husband,  whom  she  loved  dearly,  and 
whose  libido  depended  on  the  wearing  of  the  wig.  It  was 
remarkable,  however,  that  a  wig  had  the  desired  effect  only 
for  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  at  a  time.  It  had  to  be  made 
of  thick,  long  hair,  no  matter  of  what  colour. 

The  result  of  this  marriage  was,  after  five  years,  two 
children,  and  a  collection  of  seventy-two  wigs. 

The  following  case,  observed  by  Magnan  and  reported 
by  Thoinot  (op.  cit.  p.  419),  is  that  of  a  man  with  anti- 
pathic sexual  instinct,  to  whom  the  actual  existence  of  the 
fetich  was  a  conditio  sine  qua  non  of  potency. 

Case  99,  X,,  aged  twenty,  inverted  sexually.  Only 
loved  men  with  a  large  bushy  mustache.  One  day  he 
rnet  a  man  who  answered  his  ideal.  He  invited  him 
to  his  home,  but  was  unspeakably  disappointed  when  this 
man  removed  an  artificial  mustache.  Only  when  the  vis- 
itor put  the  ornament  on  the  upper  lip  again,  he  exercised 
his  charm  over  X.  once  more  and  restored  him  to  the  full 
possession  of  virility. 

In  those  cases  in  which  the  female  hair  as  mere  mat- 
ter possesses  the  properties  of  a  fetich,  it  not  uncom- 
monly happens  that  the  fetichist  seeks  to  possess  himself 
of  woman's  hair  by  unlawful  acts.  These  form  the  group 
of  hair-despoilers,  of  no  slight  importance  from  the  foren- 
sic aspect.^ 

Case  100,  A  Uair  despoiler.  P.,  aged  forty,  artistic, 
locksmith,  single.  His  father  was  temporarily  insane, 
and  his  mother  was  very  nervous.  He  was  well  de- 
veloped and  intelligent,  but  was  early  affected  with  tic 
and  delusions.     He  had  never  masturbated.    He  loved 

^  Moll  {op,  cit,y  p.  131)  reports:  "A  man,  X.,  becomes  intensely 
excited  sexuaUy  whenever  he  sees  a  woman  with  the  hair  in  a  braid; 
loose  hair,  no  matter  how  beautiful,  cannot  produce  this  effect." 

Of  course,  it  is  not  justifiable  to  consider  all  hair-despoilers 
fetichists,  for  in  a  few  cases  such  acts  are  done  for  the  purpose  of 
gain — i,  c,  the  stolen  hair  is  not  a  fetich. 

IG 


242 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


platonically,  and  often  busied  himself  with  matrimonial 
plans.  He  had  coitus  with  prostitutes  but  rarely,  and  never 
felt  satisfied  with  such  intercourse — rather,  disgusted. 
Three  years  ago  he  was  overtaken  by  misfortune  (financial 
ruin),  and  besides,  he  had  a  febrile  disease,  with  delirium. 
These  things  had  a  very  bad  effect  on  his  hereditarily 
predisposed  nervous  system.  On  August  28,  1889,  P.  was 
arrested  at  the  Trocadero,  in  Paris,  in  flagranti,  as  he  forc- 
ibly cut  off  a  young  girl's  hair.  He  was  arrested  with 
the  hair  in  his  hand  and  a  pair  of  scissors  in  his  pocket. 
He  excused  himself  on  the  ground  of  momentary  mental 
confusion  and  an  unfortunate,  irresistible  passion;  he 
confessed  that  he  had  ten  times  cut  off  hair,  which  he  took 
great  delight  in  keeping  at  home.  On  searching  his  home, 
sixty-five  switches  and  tresses  of  hair  w^ere  found,  as- 
sorted in  packets.  P.  had  already  been  once  arrested, 
on  15th  December,  1886,  under  similar  circumstances, 
but  was  released  for  lack  of  evidence. 

P.  stated  that,  for  the  last  three  years,  when  he  was 
alone  in  his  room  at  night,  he  felt  ill,  anxious,  excited 
and  dizzy,  and  then  was  troubled  by  the  impulse  to  touch 
female  hair.  When  it  happened  that  he  could  actually 
take  a  young  girl's  hair  in  his  hand,  he  felt  intensely 
excited  sexually,  and  had  erection  and  ejaculation  without 
touching  the  girl  in  any  other  way.  On  reaching  home, 
he  would  feel  ashamed  of  what  had  taken  place;  but  the 
wish  to  possess  hair,  always  accompanied  by  great  sexual 
pleasure,  became  more  and  more  powerful  in  him.  He 
wondered  that  previously,  even  in  the  most  intimate  inter- 
course with  women,  he  had  experienced  no  such  feeling. 
One  evening  he  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  cut  off  a 
girl's  hair.  With  the  hair  in  his  hand,  at  home,  the 
sensuous  process  was  repeated.  He  was  forced  to  rub  his 
body  with  the  hair  and  envelop  his  genitals  in  it.  Finally, 
quite  exhausted,  he  grew  ashamed,  and  could  not  trust 
himself  to  go  out  for  several  days.  After  months  of  rest 
he  was  again  impelled  to  possess  himself  of  female  hair, 
indifferent  as  to  whose  it  might  be.    If  he  attained  his 


FETICHISM. 


243 


end,  he  felt  himself  possessed  by  a  supernatural  power 
and  unable  to  give  up  his  booty.  If  he  could  not  attain 
the  object  of  his  desire,  he  became  greatly  depressed, 
hurried  home,  and  there  revelled  in  his  collection  of  hair. 
He  combed  and  fondled  it,  and  thus  had  intense  orgasm, 
satisfying  himself  by  masturbation.  Hair  exposed  in  the 
show-cases  of  hair-dressers  made  no  impression  on  him; 
it  required  hair  hanging  down  from  a  female  head. 

At  the  height  of  his  act,  he  was  in  such  a  state  of  ex- 
citement that  he  had  only  imperfect  apperception  and 
subsequent  recollection  of  what  he  had  done.  When  he 
touched  the  hair  with  the  scissors  he  had  erection,  and,  at 
the  instant  of  cutting  it  off,  ejaculation.  Since  his  mis- 
fortune, about  three  years  ago,  he  had  weakness  of  mem- 
ory, was  easily  exhausted  mentally,  and  troubled  by  sleep- 
lessness and  night-terrors.   P.  deeply  regretted  his  crime. 

Not  only  hair,  but  a  number  of  hair-pins,  ribbons  and 
other  articles  of  the  feminine  toilet,  were  found  in  his 
possession,  which  he  had  had  presented  to  him.  He  had 
always  had  an  actual  mania  for  collecting  such  things,  as 
well  as  newspapers,  pieces  of  wood  and  other  worthless 
trash,  which  he  would  never  give  up.  He  also  had  a 
strange,  and,  to  him,  inexplicable  fear  of  passing  a  certain 
street ;  if  he  ever  tried  it,  it  made  him  ill. 

The  opinion  (medico-legal)  showed  him  to  be  heredi- 
tarily predisposed,  and  proved  the  imperative,  impulsive 
and  decidedly  involuntary  character  of  the  criminal  acts, 
which  had  the  significance  of  an  imperative  act,  induced 
by  an  imperative  idea,  with  an  accompaniment  of  over- 
powering abnormal  sexual  feeling.  Pardon;  asylum  for 
insane  (Voisin^  Socquet,  Motet,  ^^Annales  d'hygiene,'^ 
April,  1890). 

Following  this  case  is  a  similar  one,  which  also  de- 
serves attention,  for  it  has  been  well  studied,  and  may  be 
called  almost  classical ;  and  it  places  also  the  fetich,  as  well 
as  the  original  associative  awakening  of  the  idea,  in  a  clear 
light. 


244 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  101.  A  hair-despoiler.  E.,  aged  twenty-five. 
Maternal  aunt,  epileptic;  brother  had  convulsions.  Was 
fairly  healthy  as  a  child,  and  learned  quite  easily.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  had  an  erotic  feeling  of  pleasure, 
with  erection,  at  the  sight  of  one  of  the  village  beauties 
combing  her  hair.  Until  that  time  persons  of  the  oppo- 
site sex  had  made  no  impression  on  him.  Two  months 
later,  in  Paris,  the  sight  of  young  girls  with  their  hair 
flowing  down  over  their  shoulders  ever  excited  him  in- 
tensely. One  day  he  could  not  resist  an  opportunity  to 
twist  a  young  girl's  hair  in  his  fingers.  For  this  he  was 
arrested  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  three  months. 
After  that  he  served  five  years  in  the  army.  During  this 
time  hair  was  not  dangerous  for  him,  because  not  very 
accessible;  but  he  dreamed  sometimes  of  female  heads 
with  the  hair  braided  or  flowing.  Occasional  coitus  with 
women,  but  without  their  hair  being  effective  as  a  fetich. 
Once  more  in  Paris,  he  again  dreamed  as  before,  and 
became  greatly  excited  by  female  hair.  He  never  dreamed 
about  the  whole  form  of  a  woman,  only  of  heads  with 
braids  of  hair.  His  sexual  excitement  due  to  this  fetich 
had  become  so  intense  of  late  that  he  had  resorted  to  mas- 
turbation. The  idea  of  touching  female  hair,  or,  better, 
of  possessing  it  to  masturbate  while  handling  it,  grew 
more  and  more  powerful.  Of  late,  when  he  had  female 
hair  in  his  fingers,  ejaculation  was  induced.  One  day  he 
succeeded  in  cutting  hair,  about  twenty-five  centimetres 
long,  from  three  little  girls  in  the  street,  and  keeping  it  in 
his  possession,  when  he  was  arrested  in  a  fourth  attempt. 
Deep  regret  and  shame.  He  was  not  sentenced.  After 
spending  some  time  in  the  asylum,  he  improved  so  far 
that  female  hair  no  longer  excited  him.  Set  at  liberty,  he 
thought  of  going  to  his  native  place,  where  the  women 
wear  their  hair  done  up  (Magnan^  "Archiv.  de  Tanthro- 
pol.  criminelle,''  v.,  'No.  28). 

A  third  case  is  the  following,  which  is  likewise  suited 
to  illustrate  the  psychopathic  nature  of  such  phenomena : 


FETICHISM. 


245 


and  the  remarkable  means  which  induced  a  cure  are 
worthy  of  note: — 

Case  102.  Hair-feticMsm.  Mr.  X.,  between  thirty 
and  forty  years  old ;  of  the  higher  class  of  society ;  single. 
Came  of  a  healthy  family,  but  from  childhood  had  been 
nervous,  vacillating  and  peculiar;  since  his  eighth  year 
he  had  been  powerfully  attracted  by  female  hair.  This  was 
particularly  true  in  the  case  of  young  girls.  When  he  was 
nine  years  old,  a  girl  of  thirteen  seduced  him.  He  did  not 
imderstand  it^  and  was  not  at  all  excited.  A  twelve-year- 
old  sister  of  this  girl  also  courted,  kissed,  and  hugged  him. 
He  allowed  this  quietly,  because  this  girl's  hair  pleased  him 
so  well.  When  about  ten  years  old,  he  began  to  have  erotic 
feelings  at  the  sight  of  female  hair  that  pleased  him. 
Gradually  these  feelings  occurred  spontaneously,  and 
memory-pictures  of  girl's  hair  were  always  immediately 
associated  with  them.  At  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  taught 
to  masturbate  by  school-mates.  The  associative  connec- 
tion of  sexual  feelings  and  a  fetichistic  idea  were  already 
established,  and  always  appeared  when  the  patient  in- 
dulged in  evil  practices  with  his  companions.  With  ad- 
vancing years,  the  fetich  grew  more  and  more  powerful. 
Even  false  hair  began  to  excite  him,  but  he  always  pre- 
ferred natural  hair.  When  he  could  touch  or  kiss  it,  he 
was  perfectly  happy.  He  wrote  essays  and  poems  on  the 
beauty  of  female  hair ;  he  sketched  heads  of  hair  and  mas- 
turbated. After  his  fourteenth  year  he  became  so  power- 
fully excited  by  his  fetich  that  he  had  violent  erections.  In 
contrast  with  his  early  taste  while  a  boy,  he  was  now 
charmed  only  by  luxuriant,  thick  black  hair.  He  ex- 
perienced intense  desire  to  kiss  such  hair,  particularly  to 
suck  it.  To  touch  such  hair  afforded  him  but  little  sat- 
isfaction; he  obtained  much  more  pleasure  in  looking 
at  it,  but  particularly  in  kissing  and  sucking  it.  If  this 
were  impossible,  he  would  become  unhappy,  even  to  the 
extent  of  tcedium  vitce.  Then  he  would  attempt  to  re- 
lieve himself,  imagining  fantastic  ^^hair-adventures"  and 


246 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


masturbating.  'Not  infrequently,  in  the  street  and  in 
crowds,  lie  could  not  keep  from  imprinting  a  kiss  on 
ladies'  heads.  He  would  then  hurry  home  to  masturbate. 
Sometimes  he  could  resist  this  impulse;  but  it  was  then 
necessary  for  him,  filled  with  feelings  of  fear,  to  run  away 
as  quickly  as  possible,  in  order  to  escape  the  domination 
of  his  fetich.  He  was  only  once  impelled  to  cut  off  a  girl's 
hair  in  a  crowd.  In  the  act  he  was  seized  with  fear,  and 
was  not  successful  with  his  pocket-knife;  and,  by  flight, 
he  narrowly  escaped  detection. 

When  he  became  mature,  he  attempted  to  satisfy  him- 
self in  coitus  with  puellis.  He  induced  powerful  erection 
by  kissing  their  tresses,  but  could  not  induce  ejaculation, 
and  coitus  did  not  satisfy  him.  At  the  same  time,  his 
favourite  idea  was  coitus  with  kissing  of  hair;  but  even 
this  did  not  satisfy  him,  because  it  did  not  induce  ejacu- 
lation. Faute  de  mieux,  he  once  stole  the  combings 
of  a  lady's  hair,  put  it  in  his  mouth,  and  masturbated 
while  calling  its  owner  up  in  imagination.  In  the  dark  a 
woman  could  not  interest  him,  because  he  could  not  then 
see  her  hair.  Mowing  hair  also  had  no  charm  for  him; 
nor  did  the  hair  about  the  genitals.  His  erotic  dreams 
were  all  about  hair.  Of  late  the  patient  had  become 
so  excited  that  he  had  a  kind  of  satyriasis.  He  was 
incapable  of  business,  and  felt  so  unhappy  that  he  sought 
to  drown  his  sorrow  in  alcohol.  He  drank  large  quantities, 
had  alcoholic  delirium,  an  attack  of  alcoholic  epilepsy, 
and  required  hospital  treatment.  After  the  intoxication 
had  passed  away,  under  appropriate  treatment,  the  sexual 
excitement  soon  disappeared;  and  when  the  patient  was 
discharged,  he  was  freed  from  his  fetichistic  idea,  save 
for  its  occasional  occurrence  in  dreams.  The  physical 
examination  showed  normal  genitals  and  no  degenerative 
signs  whatever. 

Such  cases  of  hair-fetichism,  which  lead  to  attacks  on 
female  hair,  seem  to  occur  everywhere,  from  time  to 
time.    In  November^  1890,  according  to  reports  in  Ameri- 


FETICHISM. 


247 


can  newspapers,  several  cities  in  the  United  States  were 
troubled  by  such  hair-despoilers. 

(b)  The  Fetich  is  an  Article  of  Femede  Attire. 

The  great  importance  of  adornment,  ornament  and 
dress  in  the  normal  vita  sexualis  of  man  is  very  generally 
recognised.  Culture  and  fashion  have,  to  a  certain  extent, 
endowed  woman  with  artificial  sexual  characteristics,  the 
removal  of  which,  when  woman  is  seen  unattired,  in 
spite  of  the  normal  sexual  effect  of  this  sight,  may  exert 
an  opposite  influence/  It  should  not  be  overlooked  that 
female  dress  often  shows  a  tendency  to  emphasise  and 
exaggerate  certain  sexual  peculiarities, — secondary  sexual 
characteristics  (bosom,  waist,  hips).  In  most  individuals 
the  sexual  instinct  awakes  long  before  there  is  any  possi- 
bility or  opportunity  of  intimate  intercourse,  and  the  early 
desires  of  youth  are  concerned  with  the  ordinary  appear- 
ance of  the  attired  female  form.  Thus  it  happens  that  not 
infrequently,  at  the  beginning  of  the  vita  sexualis^  ideas  of 
the  persons  exerting  sexual  charms  and  ideas  of  their 
attire  become  associated.  This  association  may  be  lasting 
— the  attired  woman  may  be  always  preferred — if  the 
individuals  dominated  by  this  perversion  do  not  in  other 
respects  attain  to  a  normal  vita  sexualis^  and  find  gratifi- 
cation in  natural  charms. 

In  psychopathic  individuals,  sexually  hypersesthetic,  as 
a  result  of  this,  it  actually  happens  that  the  dressed  woman 
is  always  preferred  to  the  nude  female  form.  It  may  be 
recalled  that  in  case  55  the  woman  was  not  to  take  off  her 
chemise,  and  that  it  case  58,  equus  eroticus,  the  woman 
was  preferred  dressed.  Further  on  a  similar  case  will  be 
referred  to. 

Dr.  Moll  (op,  cit,  second  edition)  mentions  a  patient 
who  could  not  perform  coitus  with  puella  nuda;  the  woman 

^Cf.  Goethe's  remarks  about  his  adventure  in  Geneva  ("  Brief e 
aus  der  Schweiz/'  1.  Abtheil.,  Schluss). 


248 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


had  to  have  on  a  chemise,  at  least.  The  same  author  {op. 
cit.j,  p.  16)  mentions  a  man  affected  with  inverted  sex- 
uality, who  is  subject  to  the  same  dress-fetichism. 

The  reason  for  this  phenomenon  is  apparently  to  be 
found  in  the  mental  onanism  of  such  individuals.  In 
seeing  innumerable  clothed  forms,  they  have  set  desires 
before  seeing  nudity.^ 

A  more  marked  form  of  dress-fetichism  is  that  in 
which,  instead  of  the  dressed  woman  in  general,  a  certain 
hind  of  attire  in  particular  becomes  a  fetich.  One  can 
understand  how,  with  an  intense  and  early  sexual  impres- 
sion, combined  with  the  idea  of  a  particular  garment  on 
the  woman,  in  hyperaesthetic  individuals,  a  very  intense 
interest  in  this  garment  might  be  developed. 

Hammond  {op.  cit.,  p.  46)  reports  the  following  case, 
taken  from  Boubaud  (^^Traite  de  Timpuissance,"  Paris, 
1876) :— 

Case  103.  X.,  son  of  a  general.  He  was  raised  in 
the  country.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  initiated  into 
the  pleasures  of  love  by  a  young  lady.  This  lady  was  a 
blonde,  and  wore  her  hair  in  ringlets;  and,  in  order  to 
avoid  detection  in  sexual  intercourse  with  her  young  lover, 
she  always  wore  her  usual  clothing, — gaiters,  a  corset,  and 
a  silk  dress  on  such  occasions. 

When  his  studies  were  completed,  and  he  was  sent  to 
a  garrison  where  he  could  enjoy  freedom,  he  found  that  his 
sexual  desire  could  be  excited  only  under  certain  condi- 
tions. A  brunette  could  not  excite  him  in  the  least,  and 
a  woman  in  night-clothes  would  stifle  every  bit  of  love  in 
him.  In  order  to  awaken  his  desire,  a  woman  had  to  be 
a  blonde,  and  wear  gaiters,  a  corset  and  a  silk  dress, — in 
short,  she  had  to  be  dressed  like  the  lady  who  had  first 

^Tlie  fact  that  the  partly  veiled  form  is  often  more  charming 
than  when  it  is  perfectly  nude,  is,  as  far  as  object  goes,  similar,  but 
quite  difFerent  psychically.  This  depends  upon  the  effect  of  contrast 
and  expectation,  which  are  common  phenomena,  and  in  no  sense 
pathological. 


PETICHJSM. 


249 


awakened  his  sexual  desire.  He  was  always  compelled 
to  give  up  thoughts  of  matrimony,  because  he  knew  he 
would  be  unable  to  fulfil  his  marital  duty  with  a  woman 
in  night-clothes. 

Hammond  (p.  42)  reports  another  case  where  coitus 
maritalis  could  be  performed  only  by  the  help  of  a  certain 
costume ;  and  Dr.  Moll  mentions  several  similar  cases  in 
individuals  of  hetero-  and  homo-sexuality.  The  cause 
may  often  be  shown  to  be  an  early  association,  and  such 
may  always  be  assumed.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  one 
can  explain  why  a  certain  costume  is  irresistible  to  such 
individuals,  no  matter  who  the  person  is  that  wears  the 
fetich.  Thus  one  can  understand  why,  as  Coffignon  {op. 
cit.)  relates,  men  at  brothels  demand  that  the  women  with 
w^hom  they  are  concerned  put  on  certain  costumes,  such  as 
that  of  a  ballet-dancer,  or  a  nun,  etc. ;  and  why  these  houses 
are  furnished  with  a  complete  wardrobe  for  such  purposes. 

Binet  (op.  cit.)  relates  the  case  of  a  judge  who  w^as 
exclusively  in  love  with  Italian  girls  who  came  to  Paris 
as  artists'  models,  and  their  peculiar  costume.  The  cause 
was  here  demonstrably  an  impression  made  at  the  time  of 
the  awakening  of  the  sexual  instinct. 

There  is  but  a  step  from  such  cases  to  the  complete 
absorption  of  the  whole  vita  sexualis  by  the  fetich,  the 
possession  and  manipulation  of  which  may  suf&ce  to  pro- 
voke orgasm  and  even  ejaculation  where  irritable  weak- 
ness of  the  centrum  ejaculationis  prevails. 

Case  104.  P.,  thirty-three  years  of  age,  business 
man,  son  of  a  mother  who  suffered  from  melancholia  and 
committed  suicide.  He  was  tainted  with  several  signs  of 
anatomical  degeneration,  was  looked  upon  by  his  neigh- 
bours as  a  "type,"  and  had  the  nickname  Vamoureux  des 
nourrices  et  des  bonnes  d'enfants. 

He  became  a  nuisance  to  these  girls  by  his  obtrusive 
behaviour,  picked  a  quarrel  with  one  of  them  who  wore  his 
fetich,  and  was  arrested. 


250 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


He  claimed  to  have  always  been  vehemently  excited  at 
the  sight  of  v^et-nurses  and  nurse-maids,  but  not  because 
they  were  of  the  female  sex,  but  because  they  wore  a  cer- 
tain costume.  Again,  it  was  not  certain  portions,  but  the 
costume  as  a  whole  which  attracted  him.  To  be  in  the 
company  of  such  persons  was  his  greatest  happiness. 
When  he  returned  home  from  such  interviews  it  was  suf- 
ficient for  him  to  recall  the  impressions  just  received,  in 
order  to  produce  orgasmus  venereus. 

An  analogous  case  is  related  by  Motet,  It  refers  to  a 
young  man,  who  became  sexually  excited  only  at  the  sight 
of  a  woman  attired  in  bridal  costume.  The  individuality 
of  the  woman  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him.  In 
order  to  gratify  his  fetichistic  cravings,  he  spent  a  great 
deal  of  his  time  at  the  door  of  a  restaurant  where  many 
weddings  were  celebrated  {Garnier,  ^^Les  Fetichistes, 
p.  59). 

A  third  form  of  dress-fetichism,  having  a  much  higher 
degree  of  pathological  significance,  is  by  far  the  most  fre- 
quent. In  this  form  it  is  no  longer  the  woman  herself, 
dressed,  or  even  dressed  in  a  particular  fashion,  that 
constitutes  the  principal  sexual  stimulus,  but  the  sexual 
interest  is  so  concentrated  on  some  particular  article 
of  female  attire  that  the  lustful  idea  of  this  object  is 
entirely  separated  from  the  idea  of  woman,  and  thus 
obtains  an  independent  value.  This  is  the  real  domain 
of  dress-fetichism,  where  an  inanimate  object — an  isolated 
article  of  wearing-apparel — is  alone  used  for  the  excitation 
and  satisfaction  of  the  sexual  instinct.  This  third  form 
of  dress-fetichism  is  also  the  one  which  forensically  is  the 
most  important. 

In  a  large  number  of  these  cases  the  fetiches  are  articles 
of  female  underwear,  which,  owing  to  their  private  use, 
are  suited  to  occasion  such  associations. 

Case  105.  K.,  aged  forty-five,  shoemaker,  was  re- 
ported to  be  without  hereditary  taint.     He  was  peculiar, 


FETICHISM. 


251 


and  had  small  mental  endowment.  He  was  of  masculine 
habits,  and  without  signs  of  degeneration.  Previously 
blameless  in  conduct,  on  the  evening  of  5th  July,  1876, 
he  was  detected  removing  stolen  female  under-garments 
from  a  place  of  concealment.  There  were  found  with  him 
about  300  articles  of  the  female  toilet,  among  them,  be- 
sides chemises  and  drawers,  night-caps,  garters,  and  a 
female  doll.  When  arrested  he  was  wearing  a  chemise. 
Since  his  thirteenth  year  he  had  been  a  slave  to  an  im- 
pulse to  steal  women's  linen;  but,  after  his  first  pun- 
ishment for  it,  he  became  very  careful,  and  stole  with 
refinement  and  success.  When  this  longing  came  over 
him,  he  would  grow  anxious,  and  his  head  would  become 
heavy.  Then  he  could  not  resist  the  impulse,  cost  what 
it  might.  It  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him  from 
whom  he  took  the  articles.  At  night,  on  going  to  bedj. 
he  would  put  on  the  stolen  clothing  and  create  beautiful 
women  in  imagination,  thus  inducing  pleasurable  feeling 
and  ejaculation.  This  was  apparently  the  motive  of  his 
thefts ;  at  least,  he  had  never  disposed  of  any  of  the  articles, 
but  had  hidden  them  here  and  there. 

He  declared  that,  earlier  in  his  life,  he  had  indulged  in 
normal  sexual  intercourse  with  women.  He  denied  onan- 
ism, pederasty,  and  other  sexual  acts.  He  said  he  was 
engaged  at  twenty-five,  but  the  engagement  was  broken 
through  no  fault  of  his.  He  was  incapable  of  grasping  the 
abnormality  of  his  condition  and  the  wrong  of  his  acts. 
{Passoio,  ^^Vierteljahrsschrift  f.  ger.  Medic,"  P*. 
xxviii.,  p.  61 ;  Krauss,  ^^Psychologic  des  Verbrechens," 
1884,  p.  190). 

Case  106.  J.,  a  young  butcher.  When  arrested  he 
wore  underneath  his  overcoat  a  bodice,  a  corset,  a  vest,  a 
jacket,  a  collar,  a  jersey,  and  a  chemise,  also  fine  stockings 
and  garters. 

Since  he  was  eleven  he  was  troubled  by  the  desire  to 
wear  a  chemise  of  his  elder  sister.  Whenever  he  could  do 
it  unnoticed  he  indulged  in  this  pleasure,  and  since  the  age 


252 


PSYCHOl»ATHlA  SEXUALIS. 


of  puberty  the  wearing  of  such  a  garment  would  bring  on 
ejaculation.  When  he  became  independent  he  bought 
chemises  and  other  articles  of  female  toilet.  In  his  room 
a  complete  outfit  of  female  attire  was  found.  To  put 
on  such  garments  was  the  great  aim  of  his  sexual  instinct. 
This  fetichism  had  financially  ruined  him.  At  the  hos- 
pital he  begged  the  attending  physician  to  permit  him 
to  wear  female  attire.  Inverted  sexuality  did  not  exist 
(Gamier^  ^^Les  Fetichistes/'  p.  62). 

Case  107.  Z.,  thirty-six  years  of  age,  scholar;  had 
never  heretofore  felt  interested  in  woman,  only  in  her 
attire,  and  never  had  sexual  intercourse.  Besides  the 
elegance  and  smartness  of  the  female  toilet  in  general, 
certain  underwear,  chemises  made  of  cambric  and  trimmed 
with  lace,  silk  corsets,  embroidered  silk  skirts  and  silk 
stockings  formed  his  particular  fetich.  It  caused  him 
voluptuous  feelings  to  inspect  and  finger  such  female  gar- 
ments at  the  draper's.  His  ideal  was  the  female  form  in 
bathing  costume,  with  silk  stockings  and  corset,  and  clad 
in  a  mourning-dress  with  a  long  train. 

He  studied  the  costumes  of  the  coureuses  des  rueSy  but 
found  them  tasteless.  He  found  more  pleasure  in  gazing 
at  the  shop  windows,  but  felt  annoyed  because  the  exhibits 
therein  were  not  changed  often  enough.  He  found  partial 
satisfaction  in  holding  and  studying  fashion  magazines, 
and  in  buying  now  and  then  single  garments  of  excep- 
tional beauty.  It  would  be  the  height  of  pleasure  for  him 
if  he  had  access  to  the  toilet  arts  of  the  boudoir  or  the 
fitting  rooms  of  the  dressmaker,  or  if  he  could  be  the 
femme  de  cJiambre  of  some  wealthy  lady  of  the  world,  and 
could  arrange  the  toilet  for  her.  There  were  no  traces  of 
masochism  or  homosexual  inclination  to  be  found  on  this 
peculiar  fetichist.  He  was  of  thoroughly  manly  presence 
(Gamier,  "La  folie  a  Paris,''  1890). 

Hammond  (op.  cit.)  reports  a  case  of  passionate  inter- 
est in  singfle  articles  of  female  wearing-apparel.  Here, 


FETICHISM. 


253 


also,  the  patient's  pleasure  consisted  in  wearing  a  corset 
and  other  female  garments  (without  any  traces  of  anti- 
pathic sexual  instinct).  The  pain  of  tight  lacing,  ex- 
perienced by  himself  or  induced  in  women,  was  a  delight 
to  him, — sadistic-masochistic  element. 

A  case  probably  belonging  here  is  one  reported  by  Diez 
(^''Der  Selbstmord,"  1838,  p.  24),  where  a  young  man 
could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  tear  female  linen.  While 
tearing  it,  he  always  had  ejaculation. 

A  combination  of  f  etichism  with  an  impulse  to  destroy 
the  fetich  (in  a  certain  sense,  sadism  with  inanimate  ob- 
jects) seems  to  occur  quite  frequently  {cf.  case  120). 

An  article  of  dress,  which,  though  it  has  not  really  a 
private  character,  by  its  material  and  colour,  as  well  as  by 
the  place  where  it  is  worn,  might  be  suggestive  of  under- 
garments, and  hence  has  sexual  relations,  is  the  apron  (cf. 
also  the  metonymic  use  of  the  word  ^^apron"  for  ^^petticoat'' 
in  the  saying,  ^^To  chase  every  apron,"  etc.).  This  ex- 
plains the  following  case : — 

Case  108.  C,  aged  thirty-seven;  of  a  badly  tainted 
family;  of  small  mental  endowment;  plagiocephalic.  At 
fifteen  his  attention  was  attracted  by  an  apron  hung  out 
to  dry.  He  put  it  on  and  masturbated  behind  the  fence. 
From  that  time  he  could  not  see  aprons  without  repeating 
the  act.  If  he  met  any  one — no  matter  whether  man  or 
woman — with  an  apron  on,  he  was  compelled  to  run  after 
the  person.  In  order  to  free  him  from  this  constant  steal- 
ing of  aprons,  he  was  sent  as  a  marine  in  his  sixteenth 
year.  In  this  calling  he  saw  no  aprons,  and  had  con- 
tinual rest.  When,  at  nineteen,  he  returned  home,  he  was 
again  compelled  to  steal  aprons,  and,  as  a  result,  got  into 
serious  complications,  and  was  several  times  locked  up. 
He  sought  to  free  himself  of  his  weakness  by  a  sojourn  of 
several  years  with  the  Trappists.  When  he  left  them,  he 
was  just  as  bad  as  before.  As  a  result  of  a  new  theft,  he 
underwent  a  medico-legal  examination,  and  was  committed 
to  an  asylum.     He  never  stole  anything  but  aprons.  ±1 


254 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


was  a  pleasure  to  him  to  revel  in  the  memory  of  the  first 
apron  he  ever  stole.  His  dreams  were  filled  with  aprons. 
He  occasionally  used  the  memory  of  his  thefts  to  make 
coitus  possible,  or  for  masturbation  (Charcot-Magnan, 
''Arch,  de  neurolog./'  1882,  'No.  12). 

In  a  case  reported  by  Lombroso  (''Amori  anomali  pre- 
coci  nei  pazzi/'  ''Arch,  di  psich./^  1883,  p.  17),  analogous 
to  those  of  this  series,  a  boy  of  very  bad  heredity,  at  the 
age  of  four,  had  erections  and  great  sexual  excitement  at 
the  sight  of  white  garments,  particularly  underclothing. 
He  was  lustfully  excited  by  handling  and  crumpling 
them.  At  the  age  of  ten  he  began  to  masturbate  at  the 
sight  of  white,  starched  linen.  He  seemed  to  have  been 
affected  with  moral  insanity,  and  was  executed  for  murder. 

The  following  case  of  petticoat-fetichism  is  coupled 
with  peculiar  circumstances : — 

Case  109.  Z.,  aged  thirty-five;  civil  servant;  the 
only  child  of  a  nervous  mother  and  a  healthy  father. 
From  childhood  he  was  "nervous,"  and  at  the  consul- 
tation his  neuropathic  eyes,  delicate,  slender  body,  fine 
features,  very  thin  voice,  and  sparse  growth  of  beard  at- 
tracted attention.  The  patient  presented  nothing  ab- 
normal except  symptoms  of  slight  neurasthenia.  Genitals 
and  sexual  functions  normal.  Patient  stated  that  he  had 
only  masturbated  four  or  five  times  when  he  was  very 
young.  As  early  as  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  the  patient 
was  powerfully  excited  sexually  by  the  sight  of  wet  female 
dresses,  while  the  same  dresses,  when  dry,  had  no  effect 
upon  him.  His  greatest  delight  was  to  look  at  women 
with  wet  garments  in  the  rain.  If  he  met  a  woman  having 
a  pleasing  face  under  such  circumstances,  he  experienced 
an  intense  feeling  of  lustful  pleasure,  had  erection  and  felt 
impelled  to  perform  coitus.  He  stated  that  he  had  never 
had  any  desire  to  steal  wet  female  dresses  or  to  throw 
water  on  women.  He  could  give  no  explanation  of  th^ 
origin  of  his  peculiarity. 

It  is  possible  that,  in  this  case,  the  sexual  instinct  was 


±1  JiillVJ±t±»lVl. 


first  awakened  by  the  sight  of  a  woman  as  she  exposed 
her  charms  by  raising  her  skirts  in  wet  weather.  The 
obscure  instinct,  not  yet  conscious  of  its  object,  then 
became  directed  to  the  wet  garments,  as  in  other 
cases. 

Lovers  of  female  handkerchiefs  are  frequent,  and, 
therefore,  important  forensically.  As  to  the  frequency 
of  handkerchief -fetichism,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the 
handkerchief  is  the  one  article  of  feminine  attire  which, 
outside  of  intimate  association,  is  most  frequently  dis- 
played, and  which,  with  its  warmth  from  the  person  and 
specific  odours,  may  by  accident  fall  into  the  hands  of 
others.  The  frequency  of  early  association  of  lustful  feel- 
ings with  the  idea  of  a  handkerchief,  which  may  always 
be  presumed  to  have  occurred  in  such  cases  of  fetichism, 
probably  is  due  to  this. 

Case  110.  A  baker's  assistant,  aged  thirty-two,  sin- 
gle, previously  of  good  repute,  was  discovered  stealing  a 
handkerchief  from  a  lady.  In  sincere  remorse,  he  con- 
fessed that  he  had  stolen  from  eighty  to  ninety  such  hand- 
kerchiefs. He  had  cared  only  for  handkerchiefs,  and, 
indeed,  only  for  those  belonging  to  young  women  attractive 
to  him.  In  his  outward  appearance  the  culprit  presented 
nothing  peculiar.  He  dressed  himself  with  much  taste. 
His  conduct  was  peculiar,  anxious,  depressed  and  unman- 
ly, and  he  often  lapsed  into  whining  and  tears.  Lack  of 
self-reliance,  weakness  of  comprehension,  and  slowness  of 
perception  and  reflection  were  noticeable.  One  of  his  sis- 
ters was  epileptic.  He  lived  in  good  circumstances ;  never 
had  a  severe  illness ;  was  well  developed.  In  relating  his 
history,  he  showed  weakness  of  memory  and  lack  of  clear- 
ness ;  calculation  was  hard  for  him,  though  when  young  he 
learned  and  comprehended  easily.  His  anxious,  uncertain 
state  of  mind  gave  rise  to  a  suspicion  of  onanism.  The 
culprit  confessed  that  he  had  been  given  to  this  practice 
excessively  since  his  nineteenth  year.    For  some  years,  as 


256 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


a  result  of  his  vice,  he  had  suffered  with  depression,  lassi- 
tude, trembling  of  the  limbs,  pain  in  the  back,  and  disincli- 
nation for  work.  Frequently  a  depressed,  anxious  state 
of  mind  came  over  him,  in  which  he  avoided  people.  He 
had  exaggerated,  fantastic  notions  about  the  results  of  sex- 
ual intercourse  with  women,  and  could  not  bring  himself 
to  indulge  in  it.  Of  late,  however,  he  had  thought  of  mar- 
riage. With  great  remorse  and  in  a  weak-minded  way,  he 
now  confessed  that  six  months  ago,  while  in  a  crowd,  he 
became  violently  excited  sexually  at  the  sight  of  a  pretty 
young  girl,  and  was  compelled  to  crowd  up  against  her. 
He  felt  an  impulse  to  compensate  himself  for  the  want  of 
a  more  complete  satisfaction  of  his  sexual  excitement,  by 
stealing  her  handkerchief.  Thereafter,  as  soon  as  he  came 
near  attractive  females,  with  violent  sexual  excitement, 
palpitation  of  the  heart,  erection  and  impetus  coeundij,  the 
impulse  would  seize  him  to  crowd  up  against  them  and 
faute  de  mieux,  steal  their  handkerchiefs.  Although  the 
consciousness  of  his  criminal  act  never  left  him  for  a 
moment,  he  was  unable  to  resist  the  impulse.  During  the 
act  he  was  uneasy,  which  was  in  part  due  to  his  inordinate 
sexual  impulse,  and  partly  to  the  fear  of  detection.  The 
medico-legal  opinion  rightly  gave  weight  to  the  congenital 
mental  enfeeblement  and  the  pernicious  influence  of  mas- 
turbation, and  referred  the  abnormal  impulses  to  a  per- 
verse sexual  impulse,  calling  attention  to  the  presence  of 
an  interesting  and  well-known  physiological  connection 
between  olfactory  and  sexual  senses.  The  inability  to 
resist  the  pathological  impulse  was  recognised.  X.  was 
not  punished  (Zippe,  ^^Wiener  Med.  Wochenschrift,'' 
1879,  'No.  23). 

I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Fritsch,  of 
Vienna,  for  further  facts  concerning  this  handkerchief- 
fetichist,  who  was  again  arrested  in  August,  1890,  in  the 
act  of  taking  a  handkerchief  from  a  lady's  pocket : — 

On  searching  his  house,  446  ladies'  handkerchiefs 


257 


were  found.  He  stated  that  he  had  already  burned  two 
bundles  of  them.  In  the  course  of  the  examination,  it 
was  further  shown  that  X.  had  been  punished  with  im- 
prisonment for  fourteen  days  in  1883  for  stealing  twenty- 
seven  handkerchiefs,  and  again  with  imprisonment  for 
three  weeks  in  1886  for  a  similar  crime.  Concerning  his 
relatives,  nothing  more  could  be  learned  than  that  his 
father  was  subject  to  congestions  and  that  a  brother's 
daughter  was  an  imbecile  and  constitutionally  neuro- 
pathic. X.  had  married  in  1879,  and  embarked  in  an 
independent  business,  and  in  1881  he  made  an  assign- 
ment. Soon  after  that  his  wife,  who  could  not  live  with 
him,  and  with  whom  he  did  not  perform  his  marital 
duty  (denied  by  X.),  demanded  a  divorce.  Thereafter  he 
lived  as  assistant  baker  to  his  brother.  He  complained 
bitterly  of  an  impulse  for  ladies'  handkerchiefs,  but  when 
opportunity  offered,  unfortunately,  he  could  not  resist  it. 
In  the  act  he  experienced  a  feeling  of  delight,  and  felt  as 
if  some  one  were  forcing  him  to  it.  Sometimes  he  could 
restrain  himself,  but  when  the  lady  was  pleasing  to  him 
he  yielded  to  the  first  impulse.  He  would  be  wet  with 
sweat,  partly  from  fear  of  detection,  and  partly  on  account 
of  the  impulse  to  perform  the  act.  He  said  he  had  been 
sexually  excited  by  the  sight  of  handkerchiefs  belonging 
to  women  since  puberty.  He  could  not  recall  the  exact  cir- 
cumstances of  this  fetichistic  association.  The  sexual 
excitement  occasioned  by  the  sight  of  a  lady  with  a 
handkerchief  hanging  out  of  her  pocket  had  constantly 
increased.  This  had  repeatedly  caused  erection,  but  nevet 
ejaculation.  After  his  twenty-first  year,  he  said,  he  had 
inclination  to  normal  sexual  indulgence,  and  had  coitus 
without  difficulty  without  ideas  of  handkerchiefs.  With 
increasing  fetichism,  the  appropriation  of  handkerchiefs 
had  afforded  him  much  more  satisfaction  than  coitus.  The 
appropriation  of  the  handkerchief  of  a  lady  attractive  to 
him  was  the  same  to  him  as  intercourse  with  her  would 
h^ve  been.    In  the  act  he  had  true  orgasm. 

If  he  could  not  gain  possession  of  the  handkerchief  he 

17 


258 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


desired,  lie  would  become  painfully  excited,  tremble  and 
sweat  all  over.  He  kept  separate  the  handkerchiefs  of 
ladies  particularly  pleasing  to  him,  and  revelled  in  the 
sight  of  them,  taking  great  pleasure  in  it.  The  odour  of 
them  also  gave  him  great  delight,  though  he  states  that  it 
was  really  the  odour  peculiar  to  the  linen,  and  not  the 
perfume,  which  excited  him  sensually.  He  had  mastur- 
bated but  very  seldom. 

X.  complained  of  no  physical  ailments  except  occa- 
sional headache  and  vertigo.  He  greatly  regretted  his 
misfortune,  his  abnormal  impulse, — the  evil  spirit  that 
impelled  him  to  such  criminal  acts.  He  had  but  one 
wish:  that  some  one  might  help  him.  Objectively  there 
were  mild  neurasthenic  symptoms,  anomalies  of  the  distri- 
bution of  blood,  and  unequal  pupils. 

It  was  proved  that  X.  had  committed  his  crimes  in 
obedience  to  an  abnormal,  irresistible  impulse.  Pardon. 

Case  111.  Z.  began  +o  masturbate  at  the  age  of 
twelve.  From  that  time  he  could  not  see  a  woman's 
handkerchief  without  having  orgasm  and  ejaculation.  He 
was  irresistibly  compelled  to  possess  himself  of  it.  At 
that  time  he  was  a  choir  boy  and  used  the  handkerchiefs 
to  masturbate  with  in  the  bell-tower  close  to  the  choir. 
But  he  chose  only  such  handkerchiefs  as  had  black  and 
white  borders  or  violet  stripes  running  through  them.  At 
fifteen  he  had  coitus.  Later  on  he  married.  As  a  rule, 
he  was  only  potent  when  he  wound  such  a  handkerchief 
around  his  penis.  Often  he  preferred  coitus  inter  femora 
femince  where  he  had  placed  a  handkerchief.  Wherever 
he  espied  a  handkerchief  he  did  not  rest  until  he  came  in 
possession  of  it.  He  always  had  a  number  of  them  in  his 
pockets  and  around  his  genitals  {Rayneau,  annales  medico- 
psychol.,  1895). 

Such  cases  of  handkerchief -fetichism,  where  an  abnor- 
mal individual  is  driven  to  theft,  are  very  numerous.  They 
also  occur  in  combination  with  inverted  sexuality,  as  is 


FETICHISM. 


259 


proved  by  the  following  case,  which  I  borrow  from  page 
162  of  Dr.  MolVs  frequently  cited  work: — ^ 

Case  112.  Handher chief -fetichism  in  a  case  of  an- 
tipathic sexual  instinct.  K.,  aged  thirty-eight;  mechanic; 
a  powerfully  built  man.  He  made  numerous  com- 
plaints,— weakness  of  the  legs,  pain  in  the  back,  headache, 
want  of  pleasure  in  work,  etc.  The  complaints  gave  the 
decided  impression  of  neurasthenia  with  tendency  to 
hypochondria.  Only  after  the  patient  had  been  under 
Dr.  MolVs  treatment  for  several  months  did  he  state  that 
he  was  also  abnormal  sexually. 

K.  had  never  had  any  inclination  whatever  for  women ; 
but  handsome  men,  on  the  other  hand,  had  a  peculiar 
charm  for  him.  Patient  had  masturbated  frequently  until 
he  came  to  Dr.  Moll,  He  had  never  practised  mutual 
onanism  or  pederasty.  He  did  not  think  that  he  would 
have  found  satisfaction  in  this,  because,  in  spite  of  his 
preference  for  men,  an  article  of  white  linen  was  his  chief 
charm,  though  the  beauty  of  its  owner  played  a  role.  The 
handkerchiefs  of  handsome  men  particularly  excited  him 
sexually.  His  greatest  delight  was  to  masturbate  in  men's 
handkerchiefs.  For  this  reason  he  often  took  his  friends' 
handkerchiefs.  In  order  to  save  himself  from  detection, 
he  always  left  one  of  his  own  handkerchiefs  with  his 
friends  in  place  of  the  one  he  stole.  In  this  way  he  sought 
to  escape  the  suspicion  of  theft,  by  creating  the  appearance 
of  a  mistake.  Other  articles  of  men's  linen  also  excited 
K.  sexually,  but  not  to  the  extent  that  handkerchiefs 
did. 

^On  page  161  (op.  cit,)  Dr.  Moll  writes  concerning  this  impulse 
in  hetero-sexual  individuals:  "The  passion  for  handkerchiefs  may 
go  so  far  that  the  man  is  entirely  under  its  control.  A  woman  teUs 
me :  ^  I  know  a  certain  gentleman,  and  when  I  see  him  at  a  distance 
I  only  need  to  draw  out  my  handkerchief  so  that  it  peeps  out  of 
my  pocket,  and  I  am  certain  that  he  will  follow  me  as  a  dog  follows 
its  master.  Go  where  I  please,  this  gentleman  will  follow  me.  He 
may  be  riding  in  a  carriage  or  engaged  in  important  business,  and 
yet,  when  he  sees  my  handkerchief  he  drops  everything  in  order  to 
follow  me, — i,  e.,  my  handkerchief.' " 


260 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


K.  had  often  performed  coitus  with,  women,  having 
erection  and  ejaculation,  but  without  lustful  pleasure. 
There  was  also  nothing  which  could  stimulate  the  patient 
to  the  performance  of  coitus.  Erection  and  ejaculation 
occurred  only  when,  during  the  act,  he  thought  of  a  man's 
handkerchief;  and  this  was  easier  for  the  patient  when 
he  took  a  friend's  handkerchief  with  him  and  had  it  in  his 
hand  during  coitus.  In  accordance  with  his  sexual  per- 
version, in  his  nightly  pollutions  with  lustful  ideas,  men's 
linen  played  the  principal  role} 

Still  far  more  frequent  than  the  f etichism  of  linen  gar- 
ments is  that  of  women's  shoes.  These  cases  are,  in  fact, 
almost  innumerable,  and  a  great  many  of  them  have  been 
scientifically  studied.  I  have  but  a  few  reports  at  third 
hand  of  similar  glove-f etichism ;  not  to  speak  of  case 
122  (vide  infra),  in  which  glove-f  etichism  develops  itself 
merely  into  ^^stuff-f etichism".  (Concerning  the  reason  for 
the  relative  infrequency  of  glove-f  etichism,  vide  above  a). 

In  shoe-fetichism  the  close  relationship  of  the  object 
to  the  feminine  person,  which  explains  linen-fetichism,  is 
absolutely  wanting.  For  this  reason,  and  because  there  is 
a  large  number  of  w^ell-observed  cases  at  hand,  in  which 
the  fetichistic  enthusiasm  for  the  female  shoe  or  boot  con- 
sciously and  undoubtedly  arises  from  masochistic  ideas, 
an  origin  of  a  masochistic  nature,  even  when  it  is  con- 
cealed, may  always  be  assumed  in  shoe-fetichism  when, 
in  the  concrete  case,  no  other  manner  of  origin  is  demon- 
strable.    For  this  reason  the  majority  of  the  cases  of 

^Another  case  of  temporary,  i.  e.,  periodical  handkerchief- 
fetichism,  accompanied  by  anxiety  and  severe  sweating,  is  related  by 
Dr.  Moll  in  the  "  Centralblatt  f.  d.  Kranklieiten  der  Ham-  und 
Sexual-organe,"  v.,  8.  This  might  be  a  case  of  latent  epilepsy. 
( Trauma  capitis  at  the  age  of  ten,  imbecility,  repeated  fainting  fits, 
later  on  partial  amnesia  for  fetichistic  conditions,  accompanied  by 
anxiety  and  sweating,  etc.)  In  these  attacks  of  morbid  impulse  to 
steal  ladies'  handkerchiefs,  which  set  in  after  an  attack  of  typhus 
at  the  age  of  thirty,  the  patient  would  wipe  his  face  with  the  stolen 
article,  which  act  produced  erection,  and  at  times  also  ejaculation. 
A  physician  whom  he  consulted  had  given  him  the  advice  never  to 
wear  linen  shirts  again,  as  his  peculiar  impulse  was  caused  by  them. 


i'ETlCHISM. 


261 


shoe-  or  foot-fetichism  have  been  given  under  ^^Maso- 
chism. There  the  constant  masochistic  character  of 
this  form  of  erotic  fetichism  has  been  sufficiently  de- 
monstrated by  means  of  transitional  conditions.  This 
presumption  of  the  masochistic  character  of  shoe-f etichism 
is  weakened  and  removed  only  where  another  accidental 
cause  for  an  association  between  sexual  excitation  and  the 
idea  of  women's  shoes — the  occurrence  of  which  is  quite 
improbable  a  priori — is  capable  of  proof.  In  the  two 
following  cases,  however,  there  is  such  a  demonstrable 
connection : — 

Case  113.   Shoe-f  etichism.    Mr.  v.  P.,  of  an  old  and 

honourable  family,  Pole,  aged  thirty-two,  consulted  me, 
in  1890,  on  account  of  ^^unnaturalness''  of  his  vita  sexualis. 
He  gave  the  assurance  that  he  came  of  a  perfectly  healthy 
family.  He  had  been  nervous  from  childhood,  and  had 
suffered  with  chorea  minor  at  the  age  of  eleven.  For  ten 
years  he  had  suffered  with  sleeplessness  and  various  neu- 
rasthenic ailments.  From  his  fifteenth  year  he  had  recog- 
nised the  difference  of  the  sexes  and  been  capable  of  sex- 
ual excitation.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  had  been 
seduced  by  a  French  governess,  but  coitus  was  not  per- 
mitted ;  so  that  intense  mutual  sexual  excitement  (mutual 
masturbation)  was  all  that  was  possible.  In  this  situation 
his  attention  was  attracted  by  her  very  elegant  boots. 
They  made  a  very  deep  impression.  His  intercourse  with 
this  lewd  person  lasted  four  months.  During  this  associa- 
tion her  shoes  became  a  fetich  for  the  unfortunate  boy. 
He  began  to  have  an  interest  in  ladies'  shoes  in  general, 
and  actually  went  about  trying  to  catch  sight  of  ladies 
wearing  pretty  boots.  The  shoe-fetichism  gained  great 
power  over  his  mind.  He  had  the  governess  touch  his 
penis  with  her  shoes,  and  thus  ejaculation  with  great  lust- 
ful feeling  was  immediately  induced.  After  separation 
from  the  governess  he  went  to  puellas,  whom  he  made 
perform  the  same  manipulation.  This  was  usually  suffi- 
cient for  satisfaction.   Only  seldom  did  he  resort  to  coitus 


262 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


as  an  auxiliary,  and  inclination  for  it  grew  less  and  less. 
His  vita  sexualis  consisted  of  dream-pollutions,  in  which 
women's  shoes  played  the  exclusive  role;  and  of  gratifica- 
tion with  women's  shoes  appositos  ad  mentulam,  but  this 
had  to  be  done  by  the  puella.  In  the  society  of  the 
opposite  sex  the  only  thing  that  interested  him  was  the 
shoe,  and  that  only  when  it  was  elegant,  of  the  French 
style,  with  heels,  and  of  a  brilliant  black,  like  the  original. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  following  conditions  became 
accessory:  a  prostitute's  shoe  that  was  elegant  and  chic; 
starched  petticoats,  and  black  hose,  if  possible.  IsTothing 
else  in  woman  interested  him.  He  was  absolutely  indiffer- 
ent to  the  naked  foot.  Women  have  not  the  slightest  psy- 
chic charm  for  him.  He  had  never  had  masochistic  desires 
in  the  sense  of  being  trod  upon.  In  the  course  of  years 
his  fetichism  had  gained  such  power  over  him  that  when 
he  saw  a  lady  in  the  street,  of  a  certain  appearance  and 
with  certain  shoes,  he  was  so  intensely  excited  that  he  had 
to  masturbate.  Slight  pressure  on  the  penis  sufficed  to 
induce  ejaculation  in  this  state  of  severe  neurasthenia. 
Shoes  displayed  in  shops,  and,  of  late,  even  advertise- 
ments of  shoes,  sufficed  to  excite  him  intensely.  In 
states  of  intense  libido  he  made  use  of  onanism  if  shoes 
were  not  at  his  immediate  command.  The  patient  quite 
early  recognised  the  pain  and  danger  of  his  condition, 
and,  even  when  he  was  free  from  neurasthenic  ailments, 
he  was  morally  very  much  depressed.  He  sought  help  of 
various  physicians.  Cold-water  cures  and  hypnotism  were 
unsuccessful.  The  most  celebrated  physicians  advised 
him  to  marry,  and  assured  him  that,  as  soon  as  he  once 
really  loved  a  girl,  he  would  be  free  from  his  fetichism. 
The  patient  had  no  confidence  in  his  future,  but  he  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  the  physicians.  He  was  cruelly  dis- 
appointed in  the  hope  which  the  authority  of  the  physi- 
cians had  aroused  in  him,  though  he  led  to  the  altar  a 
lady  distinguished  by  both  mental  and  physical  charms. 
The  wedding  night  was  terrible;  he  felt  like  a  criminal, 
and  did  not  approach  his  wife.     The  next  day  he  saw  a 


FETICHISM. 


263 


prostitute  with  the  required  chic.  He  was  weak  enough 
to  have  intercourse  with  her  in  his  way.  Then  he  bought 
a  pair  of  elegant  ladies'  boots  and  hid  them  in  bed,  and, 
by  touching  them,  while  in  marital  embrace,  after  a  few 
days,  he  was  able  to  perform  his  marital  duty.  He  ejacu- 
lated tardily,  for  he  had  to  force  himself  to  coitus;  and 
after  a  few  weeks  this  artifice  failed,  because  his  imagina- 
tion failed.  He  felt  unspeakably  miserable,  and  would 
have  preferred  to  make  an  end  of  himself.  He  could  no 
longer  satisfy  his  wife,  who  was  sensual,  and  much  excited 
by  their  previous  intercourse;  and  he  saw  her  suffering 
severely,  both  mentally  and  morally.  He  could  not,  and 
would  not,  disclose  his  secret.  He  experienced  disgust  in 
marital  intercourse ;  he  felt  afraid  of  his  wife,  and  feared 
the  coming  of  night  and  being  alone  with  her.  He  could 
no  longer  induce  erection. 

He  again  made  attempts  with  prostitutes,  and  satisfied 
himself  by  touching  their  shoes.  Then  the  puella  had  to 
touch  his  penis,  when  he  would  have  ejaculation;  but, 
if  this  did  not  take  place,  he  would  attempt  coitus  with 
the  lewd  woman;  without  success,  however,  for  ejacula- 
tion would  occur  immediately.  In  absolute  despair,  the 
patient  came  for  consultation.  He  deeply  regretted  that, 
against  his  inner  conviction,  he  had  followed  the  un- 
fortunate advice  of  the  physicians,  and  made  a  virtuous 
wife  unhappy,  having  deeply  injured  her,  both  mentally 
and  morally.  Could  he  answer  God  for  continuing  such 
a  marriage?  Even  if  he  were  to  discover  himself  to  his 
wife,  and  she  were  to  do  everything  for  him,  it  would  not 
help  him ;  for  the  familiar  perfume  of  the  demi-monde  was 
also  necessary. 

Aside  from  his  mental  pain,  this  unfortunate  man  pre- 
sented no  remarkable  symptoms.  Genitals  perfectly  nor- 
mal. Prostate  somewhat  large.  He  complained  that 
he  was  so  under  the  domination  of  his  boot-ideas  that  he 
would  even  blush  when  boots  were  talked  about.  His 
whole  imagination  was  given  up  to  such  ideas.  When  he 
was  on  his  estate,  he  often  suddenly  had  to  go  a  distance 


264 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


of  ten  miles  to  the  city,  to  satisfy  his  fetichism  at  shoe- 
shops  or  with  puellis. 

This  pitiable  man  could  not  bring  himself  to  take 
treatment;  for  his  faith  in  physicians  had  been  greatly 
shaken.  An  attempt  to  ascertain  whether  hypnosis  and 
a  removal  of  the  fetichistic  association  by  this  means, 
were  possible,  proved  abortive  on  account  of  the  mental 
excitement  of  the  unfortunate  man,  who  was  exclusively 
controlled  by  the  thought  that  he  had  made  his  wife  un- 
happy. 

Case  114.  X.,  aged  twenty-four,  from  a  badly  taint- 
ed family  (mother's  brother  and  grandfather  insane,  one 
sister  epileptic,  another  sister  subject  to  migraine,  parents 
of  excitable  temperament).  During  dentition  he  had 
convulsions.  At  the  age  of  seven  he  was  taught  to  mas- 
turbate by  a  servant-girl.  X.  first  experienced  pleasure 
in  these  manipulations  cum  ilia  puella  fortuito  pede  calce- 
olo  tecto  penem  tetigit.  Thus,  in  the  predisposed  boy,  an 
association  was  established,  as  a  result  of  which,  from  that 
time  on,  merely  the  sight  of  a  woman's  shoes,  and,  finally, 
merely  the  idea  of  them,  sufficed  to  induce  sexual  excite- 
ment and  erection.  He  now  masturbated  while  looking  at 
women's  shoes,  or  while  calling  them  up  in  imagination. 
The  shoes  of  the  schoolmistress  excited  him  intensely,  and 
in  general  he  was  affected  by  shoes  that  were  partly  con- 
cealed by  female  garments.  One  day  he  could  not  keep 
from  grasping  the  teacher's  shoes — an  act  that  caused  him 
great  sexual  excitement.  In  spite  of  punishment  he  could 
not  keep  from  performing  this  act  repeatedly.  Finally, 
it  was  recognized  that  there  must  be  an  abnormal  motive 
in  play,  and  he  was  sent  to  a  male  teacher.  He  then 
revelled  in  the  memory  of  shoe-scenes  with  his  former 
school-mistress,  and  thus  had  erections,  orgasms,  and,  after 
his  fourteenth  year,  ejaculation.  At  the  same  time,  he 
masturbated  while  thinking  of  a  woman's  shoe.  One  day 
the  thought  came  to  him  to  increase  his  pleasure  by  using 
such  a  shoe  for  masturbation.  Thereafter  he  frequently 
took  shoes  secretly,  and  used  them  for  that  purpose. 


FETICHISM. 


265 


Ifothing  else  in  a  woman  could  excite  him ;  the  thought 
of  coitus  filled  him  with  horror.  Men  did  not  interest 
him  in  any  way.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  opened  a  shop, 
and,  among  other  things,  dealt  in  ladies'  shoes.  He  was 
excited  sexually  by  fitting  shoes  for  his  female  patrons, 
or  by  manipulating  shoes  that  came  for  mending.  One  day 
while  doing  this  he  had  an  epileptic  attack,  and,  soon  after, 
another  while  practising  onanism  in  his  customary  way. 
Then  he  recognised  for  the  first  time  the  injury  to  health 
caused  by  his  sexual  practices.  He  tried  to  overcome  his 
onanism,  sold  no  more  shoes,  and  strove  to  free  himself 
from  the  abnormal  association  between  women's  shoes  and 
the  sexual  function.  Then  frequent  pollutions,  with  erotic 
dreams  about  shoes,  occurred,  and  the  epileptic  attacks  con- 
tinued. Though  devoid  of  the  slightest  feeling  for  the 
female  sex,  he  determined  on  marriage,  which  seemed  to 
him  to  be  the  only  remedy. 

He  married  a  pretty  young  lady.  In  spite  of  lively 
erections  when  he  thought  of  his  wife's  shoes,  in  attempts 
at  cohabitation  he  was  absolutely  impotent,  because  his 
distaste  for  coitus  and  for  close  intercourse  in  general  was 
far  more  powerful  than  the  influence  of  the  shoe-idea, 
which  induced  sexual  excitement.  On  account  of  his  im- 
potence, the  patient  applied  to  Dr.  Hammond^  who  treated 
his  epilepsy  with  bromides,  and  advised  him  to  hang  a  shoe 
up  over  his  bed,  and  look  at  it  fixedly  during  coitus,  at  the 
same  time  imagining  his  wife  to  be  a  shoe.  The  patient 
became  free  from  epileptic  attacks,  and  potent  so  that  he 
could  have  coitus  about  once  a  week.  His  sexual  excita- 
tion by  women's  shoes  also  grew  less  and  less  {Hammond, 
^^Sexual  Impotence"). 

These  two  cases  of  shoe-fetichism/  which  apparently 

^  Other  eases  of  shoe-fetichism  without  distant  relations  to 
masochism  are  given  by  Alzheimer,  "  A  Congenital  Criminal," 
Archiv  f.  Psychiatrie  u.  Nerven  Krankheiten/'  Bd.  28,  p.  350.  This 
same  case  was  declared  by  Kurella,  "Fetischismus  oder  Simulation," 
iUd,,  Bd.  28,  p.  964,  to  be  simulation;  but  the  reasons  given  are 
trivial  and  easily  refuted.  Vide  also  Moll,  "  Untersuchungen  uber 
aoido  sexualis^"  case  32. 


266 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


depend  upon  subjective  accidental  associations,  as  is  the 
case  in  fetichism  generally,  do  not  offer  anything  startling 
with  reference  to  their  objective  cause,  because,  in  the 
former  case,  it  is  only  a  matter  of  partial  impression  of 
the  general  appearance  of  woman,  and  in  the  latter,  a 
partial  impression  of  the  exciting  manipulation. 

But  there  are  cases — up  till  now  only  two  have  been 
closely  observed — in  which  the  determining  association 
has  decidedly  not  been  brought  about  by  any  connection 
of  the  nature  of  the  object  with  the  otherwise  normally 
exciting  cause. 

Case  115,  Shoe-feticMsm.  Kurella,  in  his  ^^Natur- 
geschichte  des  Verbrechers,''  p.  213,  tried  to  prove  that 
this  man  was  an  impostor  who  invented  an  interesting 
nervous  disease  as  a  pretense  for  making  a  living  by  fraud. 
The  author  arrived  at  a  different  result. 

O.,  born  in  1865,  student  of  theology,  was  tried  before 
a  magistrate  as  a  fraud  and  mendicant.  He  came  from 
a  heavily  tainted  family,  was  afflicted  with  shoe-fetichism, 
had  from  his  twenty-first  year  periodical  episodes  in  which 
he  was  irresistibly  forced  to  run  away  and  give  himself  up 
to  drinking-bouts,  although  by  doing  so  he  knowingly 
jeopardised  his  position  and  property.  When  in  the  army 
he  repeatedly  deserted  and  became  a  veritable  degenerate, 
an  enigma  to  his  superiors,  for  at  times  his  conduct  was 
exemplary  and  beyond  blemish. 

Examined  before  a  commission  of  army  medical  men, 
he  was  declared  to  suffer  from  ^^periodical  insanity,''  in- 
herited beyond  doubt.  In  consequence  this  ^^congenital 
criminal''  was  dismissed  from  service.  He  sank  deeper 
and  deeper  in  the  mire,  became  a  tramp,  lived  on  his  wits, 
and  was  confined  several  times  in  an  insane  asylum. 

The  author  found  a  pronounced  asymmetry  of  the 
skull,  and  also  the  right  foot  much  larger  than  the  left, 
etc. 

O.  was  able  to  trace  his  shoe-fetichism  back  to  his 
eighth  year.     At  that  time  he  had  frequently  at  school 


FETICHISM. 


267 


let  things  fall  on  the  ground  so  that  he  might  have  a  cause 
for  coming  near  to  the  lady  teacher's  foot.  Periodically 
the  image  of  a  woman's  shoe  impressed  him  so  greatly  that 
he  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  run  away. 

This  same  impulse  had  been  the  cause  of  his  vagrancy. 
He  held  himself  responsible  for  any  punishable  acts  he 
was  guilty  of.  The  author  tested  him  as  to  the  existence 
of  his  shoe-fetichism  and  found  definite  proof  that  the 
same  was  not  simulated.  Kurella  had  assumed  that  the 
shoe-fetichism  of  the  patient  was  a  mere  invention,  in  fact, 
had  derived  the  idea  from  reading  the  author's  book, 
^^Psychopathia  Sexualis,"  as  other  critics  have  done  on 
similar  occasions. 

It  became  quite  evident  that  O.  had  never  seen  or 
heard  of  the  book.  (Cf.  the  original  report  of  Kurella, 
in  which  his  reasons  for  stamping  O.  a  criminal,  are  given 
in  extenso.) 

The  scientific  observations  made  by  the  author  in  this 
case  were  based  upon  the  following  points,  viz. :  hereditary 
taint,  asymmetry  of  the  skull  and  other  signs  of  degenera- 
tion, sexual  perversion  with  periodical  psychical  manifes- 
tations in  which  irresistible  perverse  impulses  forced  the 
patient  to  abnormal  thoughts  and  acts. 

Even  during  his  lucid  intervals,  O.  should  not  be  held 
responsible  for  his  actions,  since  nervous  disturbances  and 
other  psychical  anomalies  in  the  shape  of  normal  defects 
formed  part  of  his  degenerative  psychopathic  constitution. 

O.  suffered  from  an  inherited  degenerative  mania,  and 
was  to  be  considered  a  danger  to  society  {Alzheimer , 
Archiv.  f.  Psychiatric,  xxviii.,  2). 

Case  116.  L.,  aged  thirty-seven,  clerk,  from  tainted 
family,  had  his  first  erection  at  five  years,  when  he  saw 
his  bed-fellow — an  aged  relative — ^put  on  his  night-cap. 
The  same  thing  occurred  later,  when  he  saw  an  old  servant 
put  on  her  night-cap.  Later,  simply  the  idea  of  an  old, 
ugly  woman's  head,  covered  with  a  night-cap,  was  sufficient 
to  cause  an  erection.     The  sight  of  a  cap  or  of  a  naked 


268 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SlXXJALIS, 


woman  or  man  only  made  no  impression,  but  the  mere 
touch  of  a  night-cap  induced  erection,  and  sometimes  even 
ejaculation.  L.  was  not  a  masturbator,  and  had  never 
been  sexually  active  until  his  thirty-second  year,  when  he 
married  a  young  girl  with  whom  he  had  fallen  in  love. 
On  his  marriage-night  he  remained  cold  until,  from  neces- 
sity he  brought  to  his  aid  the  memory-picture  of  an  ugly 
woman's  head  with  a  night-cap.  Coitus  was  immediately 
successful.  Thereafter  it  was  always  necessary  for  him 
to  use  this  means.  Since  childhood  he  had  been  subject 
to  occasional  attacks  of  depression,  with  tendency  to  sui- 
cide, and  now  and  then  to  frightful  hallucinations  at  night. 
When  looking  out  of  a  window,  he  became  dizzy  and  anx- 
ious. He  was  a  perverse,  peculiar,  and  easily  embarrassed 
man,  of  bad  mental  constitution  (Charcot-Magnan,  "Arch, 
de  neurol.,''  1882,  ITo.  12). 

In  this  very  peculiar  case,  the  simultaneous  coinci- 
dence of  the  first  sexual  citation  and  an  absolutely  hetero- 
geneous impression  seems  to  have  determined  the  associa- 
tion. 

Hammond  (op.  cit.)  also  mentions  a  case  of  accidental 
associative  fetichism  that  is  quite  peculiar.  A  married 
man,  aged  thirty,  who,  in  other  respects,  was  healthy, 
physically  and  mentally,  is  said  to  have  suddenly  lost  his 
sexual  power  after  moving  to  another  house,  and  to  have 
regained  it  as  soon  as  the  furniture  of  the  sleeping-room 
had  been  arranged  as  it  was  before. 

(c)  The  Fetich  is  Some  Special  Material. 

There  is  a  third  principal  group  of  fetichists  who  have 
as  a  fetich  neither  a  portion  of  the  female  body  nor  a  part 
of  female  attire,  but  some  particular  material  which  is  so 
used,  not  because  it  is  a  material  for  female  garments,  but 
because  in  itself  it  can  arouse  or  increase  sexual  feelings. 
Such  materials  are  furs^  velvets  and  silJcs, 

These  cases  differ  from  the  foregoing  instances  of  erotic 


FETICHISM. 


269 


dress-fetichism,  in  this,  that  these  materials,  unlike  female 
linen,  do  not  have  any  close  relation  to  the  female  body; 
and,  unlike  shoes  and  gloves,  they  are  not  related  to  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  person  which  have  peculiar  symbolic  sig- 
nificance. Moreover,  this  fetichism  cannot  be  due  to  an 
accidental  association,  like  that  in  the  cases  of  the  night- 
caps and  the  arrangement  of  the  sleeping-room;  for  these 
cases  form  an  entire  group  having  the  same  object.  It 
must  be  presumed  that  certain  tactile  sensations  (a  kind 
of  tickling  irritation  which  stands  in  some  distant  relation 
to  lustful  sensations?),  in  hypersesthetic  individuals,  fur- 
nish the  occasion  for  the  origin  of  this  fetichism. 

The  following  is  a  personal  observation  of  a  man  af- 
fected with  this  peculiar  fetichism: — 

Case  117.  IST.  N.,  aged  thirty-seven;  of  a  neuro- 
pathic family;  neuropathic  constitution.  He  made  the 
following  statement :  ^Trom  my  earliest  youth  I  have  al- 
ways had  a  deeply  rooted  partiality  for  furs  and  velvets, 
in  so  far  that  these  materials  cause  me  sexual  excitement, 
and  the  sight  and  touch  of  them  give  me  lustful  pleasure. 
I  can  recall  no  event  that  caused  this  peculiarity  (such  as 
the  simultaneous  occurrence  of  the  first  sexual  excitation 
and  an  impression  of  these  materials, — i.  e,,  first  excitation 
by  a  woman  dressed  in  them)  ;  in  fact,  I  cannot  remember 
when  this  enthusiasm  began.  However,  by  this  I  would 
not  exclude  the  possibility  of  such  an  event, — of  an  acci- 
dental connection  in  a  first  impression  and  consequent 
association;  but  I  think  it  very  improbable  that  such  a 
thing  took  place,  because  I  believe  such  an  occurrence 
would  have  deeply  impressed  me.  All  I  know  is,  that 
even  when  a  small  child  I  had  a  lively  desire  to  see  and 
stroke  furs,  and  thus  had  an  obscure  sexual  pleasure. 
With  the  first  occurrence  of  definite  sexual  ideas, — ix,,  the 
direction  of  sexual  thoughts  to  woman, — the  peculiar  pre- 
ference for  women  dressed  in  such  materials  was  present. 
Since  then,  up  to  mature  manhood,  it  has  remained  un- 


270 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


changed.  A  woman  wearing  furs  or  velvet,  or,  even  bet- 
ter, both,  excites  me  much  more  quickly  and  intensely  than 
one  devoid  of  these  auxiliaries.  To  be  sure,  these  materials 
are  not  a  conditio  sine  qua  non  of  excitation;  the  desire 
occurs  also  without  them  in  response  to  the  usual  stimuli ; 
but  the  sight  and,  particularly,  the  touch  of  these  fetich- 
materials  form  for  me  a  powerful  aid  to  other  normal 
stimuli  and  intensify  erotic  pleasure.  Often  merely  the 
sight  of  only  a  passably  pretty  girl  dressed  in  these  ma- 
terials causes  me  vivid  excitement,  and  overcomes  me  com- 
pletely. Even  the  sight  of  my  fetich-materials  gives  me 
pleasure,  but  the  touch  of  them  much  more.  (To  the 
penetrating  odour  of  furs  I  am  indifferent — rather,  it  is 
unpleasant — and  it  is  endurable  only  by  reason  of  the 
association  with  pleasing  visual  and  tactile  impressions.) 
I  have  an  intense  longing  to  touch  these  materials 
while  on  a  woman's  person,  to  stroke  and  kiss  them, 
and  bury  my  face  in  them.  My  greatest  pleasure  is, 
inter  actum,  to  see  and  feel  my  fetich  on  the  woman's 
shoulder. 

^^Fur,  or  velvet  alone,  exerts  on  me  the  effect  described, 
the  former  much  more  intensely  than  the  latter.  The 
combination  of  the  two  has  the  most  intense  effect.  Again, 
female  garments  made  of  velvet  and  fur,  seen  and  touched 
when  off  the  wearer,  cause  me  sexual  excitement;  indeed, 
though  to  a  less  extent,  the  same  effect  is  exerted  by  furs 
or  robes  having  no  relation  to  female  attire,  and  also  by 
the  velvet  and  plush  of  furniture  and  drapery.  Merely 
pictures  of  costumes  of  furs  and  velvet  are  objects  of  erotic 
interest  to  me;  indeed,  the  very  word  ^^fur"  has  a  magic 
charm,  and  immediately  calls  up  erotic  ideas. 

^Tur  is  such  an  object  of  sexual  interest  to  me  that  a 
man  wearing  fur  that  is  effective  {v.  infra)  makes  a  very 
unpleasant,  repugnant,  and  disgusting  impression  on  me, 
such  as  would  be  made  on  a  normal  person  by  a  man  in 
the  costume  and  attitude  of  a  ballet-dancer.  Similarly 
repugnant  to  me  is  the  sight  of  an  old  or  ugly  woman  clad 


FETICHISM. 


271 


in  beautiful  furs,  because  contradicting  feelings  are  thus 
aroused. 

^^This  erotic  delight  in  furs  and  velvet  is  something 
entirely  different  from  simple  aesthetic  pleasure.  I  have  a 
very  lively  appreciation  of  beautiful  female  attire,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  a  particular  partiality  for  point-lace;  but 
this  is  purely  of  an  aesthetic  nature.  A  woman  dressed  in 
a  point-lace  toilette  (or  in  other  elegant,  elaborate  attire)  is 
more  beautiful  than  another;  but  one  dressed  in  my  fetich- 
material  is  more  charming. 

"Furs,  however,  exercise  on  me  the  effect  described 
only  when  the  fur  has  very  thick,  fine,  smooth  and  rather 
long  hair,  that  stands  out  like  that  of  the  so-called  bearded 
furs.  I  have  noticed  that  the  effect  depends  upon  this.  I 
am  entirely  indifferent  not  only  to  the  ordinary,  coarse, 
bushy  furs,  but  also  to  those  that  are  commonly  regarded 
as  beautiful  and  precious,  from  which  the  long  hair  has 
been  removed  (seal,  beaver),  or  of  which  the  hair  is  natu- 
rally short  (ermine)  ;  and  likewise  to  those  of  which  the 
hair  is  overlong  and  lies  down  (monkey,  bear).  The  speci- 
fic effect  is  exerted  only  by  the  standing  long  hair  of  the 
sable,  marten,  skunk,  etc.  Now,  velvet  is  made  of  thick, 
fine,  standing  hairs  (fibres)  ;  and  its  effect  may  be  due  to 
this.  The  effect  seems  to  depend  upon  a  very  definite  im- 
pression of  the  points  of  thick,  fine  hair  upon  the  terminals 
of  the  sensory  nerves. 

"But  how  this  peculiar  impression  on  the  tactile  nerves 
is  related  to  sexual  instinct  is  a  perfect  enigma  to  me.  The 
fact  is,  that  this  is  the  case  with  many  men.  I  would  also 
state  expressly  that  beautiful  female  hair  pleases  me,  but 
plays  no  more  important  part  than  the  other  charms ;  and 
that  while  touching  fur  I  have  no  thought  of  female  hair 
(the  tactile  sensation,  also,  has  not  the  least  resemblance 
to  that  imparted  by  female  hair).  There  is  never  associa- 
tion of  any  other  idea.  Fur,  per  se,  arouses  sensuality  in 
me, — how,  I  cannot  explain. 

"The  mere  aesthetic  effect,  the  beauty  of  costly  furs, 
to  which  every  one  is  more  or  less  susceptible,  and  which, 


272 


PSYCHOPATHtA  SEXUALlS. 


since  Raphael's  Fornarina  and  Reuben's  Helene  Four- 
ment,  has  been  used  as  the  foil  and  frame  of  female  beauty 
by  innumerable  painters ;  which  also  plays  so  important  a 
role  in  fashion, — the  art  and  science  of  female  dress, — this 
aesthetic  effect,  as  has  been  remarked,  explains  nothing 
here.  Beautiful  furs  have  the  same  aesthetic  effect  on 
me  as  on  normal  individuals,  and  affect  me  in  the  same 
v^ay  that  flowers,  ribbons,  precious  stones,  and  other  orna- 
ments affect  every  one.  Such  things,  when  skilfully  used 
enhance  female  beauty,  and  thus,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, may  have  an  indirect  sensual  effect.  They  never 
have  a  direct,  powerful,  sensual  effect  on  me,  as  do  the 
fetich-materials  mentioned. 

^^Though  in  me,  and,  in  fact,  in  all  ^fetichists,'  the 
sensual  and  aesthetic  effect  must  be  strictly  differentiated, 
nevertheless,  that  does  not  prevent  me  from  demanding  in 
my  fetich  a  whole  series  of  aesthetic  qualities  in  form,  style, 
colour,  etc.  I  could  give  a  lengthy  description  of  these 
qualities  demanded  by  my  tastes ;  but  I  omit  it  as  not  being 
essential  to  the  real  subject  in  hand.  I  would  only  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  erotic  fetichism  is  complicated 
with  purely  aesthetic  tastes. 

^^The  specific  erotic  effect  of  my  fetich-materials  can 
be  explained  no  better  by  the  association  with  the  idea 
of  the  person  of  the  female  wearing  them,  than  by  their 
aesthetic  impression.  For,  in  the  first  place,  as  has  been 
said,  these  materials,  as  such,  affect  me  when  entirely 
isolated  from  the  body;  and,  in  the  second  place,  articles 
of  clothing  of  a  much  more  private  nature,  and  which 
undoubtedly  call  up  associations,  exert  a  much  weaker 
influence  over  me.  Thus  the  fetich-materials  have  an 
independent  sensual  value  for  me.  Why,  is  an  enigma 
to  me. 

^Teathers  in  women's  hats,  fans,  etc.,  have  the  same 
erotic  fetichistic  effect  on  me  as  furs  and  velvet  (similar 
tactile  sensation  of  airy,  peculiar  tickling).  Finally,  the 
fetichistic  effect,  with  much  less  intensity,  is  exerted  by 


FETICHISM. 


273 


other  smooth  materials  (satin  and  silk)  ;  but  rough  goods 
(cloth,  flannel)  have  a  repelling  effect. 

"In  conclusion,  I  will  mention  that  somewhere  I  read 
an  article  by  Carl  Vogt  on  microcephalic  men,  according 
to  which  these  creatures,  at  the  sight  of  furs,  rushed  for 
them  and  stroked  them  with  every  manifestation  of  de- 
light. I  am  far  from  any  thought,  on  this  ground,  to  see 
in  widespread  fur-fetichism  an  atavistic  retrogression  to 
the  taste  of  our  hairy  ancestors.  Every  cretin,  with  that 
simplicity  belonging  to  its  condition,  touches  anything 
that  pleases  him,  and  the  act  is  not  necessarily  of  a  sexual 
nature ;  just  as  many  normal  men  like  to  stroke  a  cat  and 
the  like,  or  even  velvet  furs,  and  are  not  thus  excited 
sexually.'^ 

In  the  literature  of  this  subject,  there  are  a  few  cases 
belonging  here: — 

Case  1 18,  A  boy,  aged  twelve,  became  powerfully 
excited  sexually,  when,  by  chance,  he  covered  himself  with 
a  fox-skin.  From  that  time  on  there  was  masturbation 
with  the  employment  of  furs,  or  by  means  of  taking  a 
furry  dog  to  bed.  Ejaculation  would  result,  sometimes 
followed  by  an  hysterical  attack.  His  nocturnal  pollu- 
tions were  induced  by  dreaming  that  he  lay  entirely  cov- 
ered up  in  a  soft  skin.  He  was  absolutely  insusceptible 
to  stimuli  coming  from  men  or  women.  He  was  neu- 
rasthenic, suffered  with  delusions  of  being  watched,  and 
thought  that  every  one  noticed  his  sexual  anomaly.  He 
had  toedium  vitce  on  account  of  this,  and  finally  became  in- 
sane. He  had  marked  taint ;  his  genitals  were  imperfectly 
formed,  and  he  presented  other  signs  of  degeneration 
{Tarnowsky,  op.  city  p.  22). 

Case  119.  C,  was  an  especial  lover  of  velvet.  He 
was  attracted  in  a  normal  way  by  beautiful  women,  but  it 
particularly  excited  him  to  have  the  person  with  whom 
he  had  sexual  intercourse  dressed  in  velvet.     In  this,  it 

18 


274 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


was  remarkable  that  it  was  not  so  much  the  sight  as  the 
touch  of  the  velvet  that  caused  the  excitation.  C.  told 
me  that  stroking  a  woman's  velvet  jacket  would  excite  him 
sexually  to  an  extent  scarcely  possible  in  any  other  way 
(Dr.  Moll,  op.  cit,  p.  127). 

A  physician  communicated  to  me  the  following 
case : — 

In  a  brothel  a  man  was  known  under  the  name  of 
^^Velvet".  He  would  dress  a  sympathetic  puella  with  a 
garment  made  of  black  velvet,  and  would  excite  and  satisfy 
his  sexual  desires  simply  by  stroking  his  face  with  a  corner 
of  her  velvety  dress,  not  touching  any  other  part  of  the 
person  at  all. 

Another  authority  assures  me  that  this  weakness  for 
furs,  velvets  and  sillcs  and  feathers,  is  quite  common  among 
masochists  (c/.  case  50).^ 

The  following  is  a  very  peculiar  case  of  material- 
fetichism.  It  is  combined  with  the  impulse  to  injure  the 
fetich,  which,  in  this  case,  represents  an  element  of  sadism 
toward  the  woman  wearing  the  fetich,  or  impersonal 
sadism  toward  objects,  which  is  of  frequent  occurrence 
in  fetichists  (cf.  p.  253).  This  impulse  to  cause  injury 
made  this  a  remarkable  criminal  case: — 

Case  120,  In  July,  1891,  Alfred  Bachman,  aged 
twenty-five,  locksmith,  was  brought  before  Judge  N.,  in 
the  second  term  of  the  criminal  court,  in  Berlin.  In 
April,  1891,  the  police  had  had  numerous  complaints, 
according  to  which  some  evil  hand  had  cut  women's 

iln  the  novels  of  Sacher-Masoch,  fur  plays  an  important  rdle; 
in  fact,  it  serves  as  a  title  in  some  of  them.  The  explanation  given 
is  that  fur  (ermin)  is  the  symbol  of  sovereignty,  and  therefore  the 
fetich  of  the  men  described  in  these  novels,  seems  unsatisfactory  and 
far-fetched. 


FETICHISM. 


275 


dresses  with  a  very  sharp  instrument.  In  the  evening  of 
25  th  April  J  they  were  successful  in  arresting  the  perpe- 
trator in  the  person  of  the  accused.  A  policeman  noticed 
how  the  accused  pressed,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  against 
a  lady  in  the  company  of  a  gentleman,  while  they  were 
going  through  a  passage.  The  officer  requested  the  lady 
to  examine  her  dress,  while  he  held  the  man  under 
suspicion.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  dress  had  received 
quite  a  long  slit.  The  accused  was  taken  to  the  station, 
where  he  was  examined.  Besides  a  sharp  knife,  which 
he  confessed  he  used  for  cutting  dresses,  two  silk  sashes, 
such  as  ladies  wear  on  their  dresses,  were  found  on  him; 
he  also  confessed  that  he  had  taken  these  from  dresses 
in  crowds.  Finally,  the  examination  of  his  person  brought 
to  light  a  lady's  silken  neck-scarf.  The  accused  said  he  had 
found  this.  Since  his  statement  in  this  case  could  not  be 
refuted,  complaint  was  therefore  made  to  rest  on  the  result 
of  the  search;  in  two  instances  in  which  complaint  was 
made  by  the  injured  parties  his  acts  were  designated  as 
injury  to  property,  and  in  two  other  instances  as  theft. 
The  accused,  a  man  who  had  been  often  punished  before, 
with  a  pale,  expressionless  face,  before  the  judge,  gave  a 
strange  explanation  of  his  enigmatical  action.  A  major's 
cook  had  once  thrown  him  downstairs  when  he  was 
begging  of  her,  and  since  that  time  he  had  entertained 
great  hatred  of  the  whole  female  sex.  There  was  a  doubt 
about  his  responsibility,  and  he  was  therefore  examined 
by  a  physician.  The  medical  expert  gave  the  opinion  at 
the  final  trial  that  there  was  no  reason  to  regard  the 
accused  as  insane,  though  he  was  of  low  intelligence. 
The  culprit  defended  himself  in  a  peculiar  manner.  An 
irresistible  impulse  forced  him  to  approach  women  wear- 
ing silk  dresses.  The  touch  of  silk  material  gave  him  a 
feeling  of  delight,  and  this  went  so  far  that,  while  in 
prison  for  examination,  he  had  been  excited  if  a  silk  thread 
happened  to  pass  through  his  fingers  while  ravelling  rags. 
Judge  Miiller  considered  the  accused  to  be  simply  a  dan- 
gerous, vicious  man,  who  should  be  made  harmless  for  a 


'276 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


long  time.  He  advised  imprisonment  for  one  year.  The 
court  sentenced  him  to  six  months'  imprisonment,  with 
loss  of  honour  for  a  year. 

A  classical  case  of  material-fetichism  (silk)  is  the 
following  related  by  Dr.  P.  Gamier: — 

Case  121.  On  22nd  September,  1881,  V.  was  ar- 
rested in  the  streets  of  Paris  whilst  he  interfered  with 
the  silk  dresses  of  a  lady  in  a  manner  which  aroused  the 
suspicion  of  his  being  a  pick-pocket.  At  first  he  was  very 
much  confused,  but  finally,  after  many  vain  excuses,  made 
a  clean  confession  of  his  ^^mania".  He  was  twenty-nine 
years  of  age,  an  assistant  in  a  bookseller's  shop ;  his  father 
was  a  drunkard  and  a  religious  zealot,  his  mother  of  ab- 
normal character.  She  wished  to  make  a  priest  of  him. 
Since  his  early  youth  he  felt  an  instinctive  impulse — con- 
genital as  he  believes — to  touch  silk.  When  at  the  age 
of  twelve  as  a  choir  boy  he  Avas  allowed  to  wear  a  silk 
sash,  he  could  not  often  enough  finger  it.  He  could  not 
describe  the  peculiar  sensation  which  he  experienced  in 
doing  so.  Later  on  he  became  acquainted  with  a  ten- 
year-old  girl  for  whom  he  had  a  childish  affection.  When 
on  Sundays  he  met  this  girl  clad  in  a  silk  dress,  he  was 
impelled  to  lovingly  put  his  arms  around  her  and  touch 
her  silk  dress.  Later  he  found  exceeding  great  pleasure 
in  gazing  at  the  silk  gowns  exposed  in  a  dressmaker's 
shop  and  to  feel  them. 

When  they  gave  him  remnants  of  silk  material,  he 
would  hasten  to  put  them  next  to  his  body,  which  act  im- 
mediately produced  erection,  orgasm  and  even  ejaculation. 
These  lustful  desires  made  him  uneasy,  so  that  he  doubted 
his  vocation  to  the  priesthood  and  obtained  his  discharge 
from  the  seminary.  In  consequence  of  habitual  mastur- 
bation he  was  at  that  time  very  neurasthenic.  His  silk- 
f etichism  swayed  him  as  ever.  Only  when  a  woman  wore 
a  silk  gown  could  she  charm  him. 

Even  when  a  child,  ladies  with  silk  gowns  played  a 


FETICHISM. 


277 


prominent  part  in  his  dreams;  later  on  the  latter  were 
accompanied  by  pollutions.  On  account  of  his  natural 
shyness  he  did  not  resort  to  coitus  until  later  in  life, 
and  then  he  could  only  succeed  in  it  with  a  woman 
dressed  in  silk.  He  much  preferred  to  mix  with  crowds  in 
the  street  and  there  touch  the  silk  gowns  of  ladies,  which 
always  produced  ejaculation  accompanied  by  powerful 
orgasms  and  intense  lustful  feelings.  What  gratified  him 
more  than  being  with  the  prettiest  woman  was  to  put 
on  a  silk  petticoat  when  going  to  bed. 

The  forensic  medical  opinion  declared  him  to  be  a 
heavily  tainted  subject  who  gave  way  to  abnormal 
desires  under  the  strain  of  morbid  impulses.  Pardon 
(Dr.  Gamier  J  "Annales  d'hygiene  publique/'  3^  serie, 
xxix.,  5). 

The  following  case  of  Jcid-glove-fetichism  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  show  the  origin  of  fetichistic  associations  as 
well  as  the  enormous  influence  permanently  exercised  by 
such  an  association,  although  itself  based  upon  a  psychico- 
physical  and  morbid  predisposition. 

Case  122,   Mr.  Z.,  an  American,  thirty-three  years 

of  age,  manufacturer,  for  eight  years  enjoying  a  happy 
married  life,  blessed  with  offspring;  consulted  me  for  a 
peculiar  troublesome  glove-f etichism.  He  despised  him- 
self on  account  of  it,  and  said  it  brought  him  well  nigh 
to  the  verge  of  despair  and  even  insanity. 

He  claimed  to  come  of  thoroughly  sound  parents,  but 
since  infancy  had  been  neuropathic  and  very  excitable. 
By  nature  he  was  very  sensual,  whilst  his  wife  was  very 
frigid. 

At  the  age  of  nine,  he  was  seduced  by  schoolmates  to 
practise  masturbation,  which  gratified  him  immensely, 
and  he  yielded  to  it  with  passion. 

One  day  when  sexually  excited  he  found  a  small  bag 
jDf  chamois  skin.  He  stripped  it  over  his  membrum  and 
experienced  thereby  great  sensual  pleasure.    After  that 


278 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS- 


he  used  it  for  onanistic  manipulations,  put  it  around  his 
scrotum  and  carried  it  about  with  him  day  and  night. 
This  aroused  in  him  an  unusual  interest  for  leather  in 
general,  but  particularly  for  kid  gloves. 

With  puberty  this  centered  entirely  in  ladies'  kid 
gloves,  which  simply  fascinated  him.  If  he  touched  his 
penis  with  one  such  glove  it  produced  erection  and  even 
ejaculation. 

Men's  gloves  did  not  excite  him  in  the  least,  although 
he  loved  to  wear  them. 

In  consequence,  nothing  about  woman  attracted  him 
but  her  kid  gloves.  These  were  his  fetich.  They  must 
be  long,  with  many  buttons,  and  if  worn  out,  dirty  and 
saturated  with  perspiration  at  the  finger-tips,  they  were 
preferable.  Women  wearing  such,  even  if  ugly  and  old, 
had  a  particular  charm  for  him.  Ladies  with  silk,  or 
cotton  gloves  did  not  attract  him.  He  always  looked  at 
her  gloves  first  when  meeting  a  lady.  As  for  the  rest 
he  took  very  little  interest  in  the  female  sex. 

When  he  could  shake  hands  with  a  lady  gloved  with 
kid,  the  contact  with  the  soft,  warm  leather  would  cause 
erection  and  orgasm  in  him. 

Whenever  he  could  get  hold  of  such  a  glove  he  would 
at  once  retire  to  a  lavatory,  wrap  it  around  his  genitals 
and  masturbate. 

Later  on  when  visiting  brothels  he  would  beg  the 
puella  to  put  on  long  gloves  provided  by  himself  for  that 
purpose,  which  act  alone  would  excite  him  so  much  that 
ejaculation  ensued  forthwith. 

Z.  became  a  collector  of  ladies'  kid  gloves.  He  would 
hide  away  hundreds  of  pairs  in  various  places.  These 
he  would  count  and  gloat  over  in  his  spare  time,  ^^as  a 
miser  would  over  his  gold,"  place  them  over  his  genitals, 
bury  his  face  in  a  pile  of  them,  put  one  on  his  hand 
and  then  masturbate.  This  gave  him  more  intense  pleasure 
than  coitus. 

He  made  covers  for  his  penis  of  them,  or  suspensories; 
wearing  them  for  days.    He  preferred  black,  soft  l^ather.^ 


FETICHISM, 


279 


He  would  fasten  ladies'  kid  gloves  around  his  waist  in 
such  a  fashion  that  they  would,  apron-like,  hang  down 
over  his  genitals. 

After  marriage  this  fetichism  grew  worse.  As  a  rule 
he  was  only  virile  when  he  put  a  pair  of  his  wife's  gloves 
during  coitus  by  her  head  so  that  he  could  kiss  them. 

The  acme  of  pleasure  was  when  he  could  persuade  his 
wife  to  put  on  kid  gloves  and  thus  touch  his  genitals 
previous  to  cohabitation. 

Z.  felt  very  unhappy  on  account  of  this  fetichism^  and 
made  repeated  but  vain  attempts  to  free  himself  of  the 
curse. 

Whenever  he  came  across  the  word,  or  the  picture 
of  a  glove  in  novels,  fashion-plates,  advertisements,  etc., 
he  was  simply  fascinated.  At  the  theatre  his  eyes  were 
riveted  on  the  hands  of  the  actresses.  He  could  scarcely 
tear  himself  away  from  the  show-windows  of  glove-dealers. 

He  often  would  stuff  long  gloves  with  wool  or  some 
such  material  to  make  them  resemble  arms  and  hands. 
Then  he  would  make  tritus  membri  inter  hrachia  talia  arti-' 
ficialia,  until  he  had  achieved  his  object. 

It  was  his  habit  to  take  ladies'  kid  gloves  to  bed  with 
him  and  wrap  them  around  his  penis  until  he  could  feel 
them  like  a  large  leathern  priapus  between  his  legs. 

In  the  larger  towns  he  bought  from  the  cleaners  ladies' 
gloves  which  had  not  been  called  for,  but  preferred  those 
most  soiled  and  worn.  Twice  he  admitted  to  have  yielded 
to  the  temptation  to  steal  such  gloves,  although  in  every 
other  respect  he  was  absolutely  correct.  When  in  a  crowd 
he  must  touch  ladies'  hands  whenever  possible.  At  his 
office  he  allowed  no  opportunity  to  pass  without  shaking 
hands  with  ladies,  in  order  to  feel  for  ^^at  least  a  second 
the  soft,  warm  leather".  His  wife  must  wear  as  much  as 
possible  kid  gloves  or  such  made  rh^r^Kxio..  with  which 
he  provided  her  lavishly. 

At  his  office  he  always  had  ladies'  gloves  lying  on  lixjs 
desk.    IsTot  an  hour  passed  in  which  he  did  not  toucB 


280 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS- 


and  stroke  them.  When  especially  excited  (sexually)  he 
put  such  a  glove  in  his  mouth  and  chewed  it. 

Other  articles  of  the  female  toilet,  likewise  other  parts 
of  the  female  body  besides  the  hand,  did  not  attract  him. 
Z.  felt  much  depressed  about  this  anomaly.  He  felt 
ashamed  to  look  into  the  innocent  eyes  of  his  children, 
and  prayed  God  to  protect  them  from  this  curse  of  their 
father. 

The  object  of  fetichism  may  also  be  found  in  a  thing 
which  only  by  sheer  accident  stands  in  relation  to  the  body 
of  woman,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  instance 
related  by  Moll.  It  proves,  moreover,  how  by  the  merely 
accidental  association  of  an  apperception  with  a  parallel 
sexual  emotion — based,  of  course,  upon  a  special  psychic 
process — the  object  of  such  apperception  may  become  a 
fetich  which  in  its  turn  may  some  day  disappear  again. 

The  theory  of  association  in  connection  with  original 
perverse  manifestations  (based  on  organo-psychical  mo- 
tives) seems  here  quite  acceptable.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  data  relating  to  masochism  and  sadism. 

Case  123.  B.,  thirty  years  of  age,  apparently  un- 
tainted, refined  and  sensitive ;  great  lover  of  flowers ;  liked 
to  kiss  them,  but  without  any  sensual  motive  or  sensual 
excitement ;  rather  of  natura  frigida;  did  not  before  twen- 
ty-one practise  onanism,  and  subsequently  only  at  periods. 
"When  twenty-one  he  was  introduced  to  a  young  lady  who 
wore  some  large  roses  on  her  bosom.  Ever  since  then 
large  roses  dominated  over  his  sexual  feelings.  He  in- 
cessantly bought  roses;  kissing  them  would  produce  erec- 
tion. He  took  them  to  bed  with  him  although  he  never 
touched  his  genitals  with  them.  His  pollutions  henceforth 
were  accompanied  by  dreams  of  roses.  He  would  dream 
of  roses  of  fairy-like  beauty  and,  inhaling  their  fragrance, 
have  ejaculation. 

He  became  secretly  engaged  to  his  "lady  of  roses,'^ 
but  the  platonic  relations  grew  colder,  and  when  the 


FETICHISM. 


281 


engagement  was  broken  off  the  rose-fetichism  suddenly 
and  permanently  disappeared.  It  never  returned,  even 
when  he  became  again  engaged  after  a  long  spell  of 
melancholia  (A.  Moll,  ^^Centralb.  f.  d.  Krankheiten  der 
Harn-  und  Sexual-organe/^  v.,  3), 

(d)  Beast'fetichism. 

In  close  relation  to  stuff-fetichism,  certain  cases  must 
be  considered  in  which  beasts  exercise  an  aphrodisical 
influence  over  human  beings.  One  feels  tempted  to  call 
it  Zoophilia  Erotica. 

This  perversion  seems  to  be  rooted  in  a  fetichism  the 
object  of  which  is  the  skin  of  the  beast. 

The  transmitting  medium  of  this  fetichism  may, 
perhaps,  be  found  in  a  peculiar  idiosyncrasis  of  the 
tactile  nerves  which,  by  touching  furs  or  animal  skins, 
produces  peculiar  and  lustful  emotions  (analogous  to 
hair-,  braid-,  velvet-,  and  silk-fetichism).  This  may, 
perhaps,  also  explain  that  peculiar  hobby  for  cats  and 
dogs  at  times  met  with  in  sexually  perverted  persons 
(vide  especially  case  118).  The  following  case,  coming 
under  my  personal  observation,  seems  to  favour  this  as- 
sumption. 

Case  124.  Zoophilia  erotica,  fetichism.  Mr.  !N".  N., 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  from  a  neuropathically  tainted 
family,  himself  congenitally  neuropathic.  Even  as  a 
child  he  often  felt  impelled  to  perform  at  times  quite  in- 
different actions  for  fear  of  encountering  some  untoward 
event.  He  learned  easily,  never  had  a  severe  illness,  and 
early  a  great  love  for  domestic  animals,  especially  dogs 
and  cats,  because  when  petting  them  he  experienced  lustful 
emotions.  For  years  he  indulged  in  this  play  with  ani- 
mals, which  sensually  stimulated  him,  although  in  an 
innocent  fashion,  as  it  were.  When  he  arrived  at  the  age 
of  puberty  he  recognized  the  immorality  of  his  acts  and 
tried  to  free  himself  from  the  habit.   He  succeeded  in  this, 


282 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


but  henceforth  he  was  troubled  in  his  dreams  by  such 
situations  which  produced  pollutions.  He  then  began 
onanism.  At  first  he  practised  it  by  manipulation  accom- 
panied by  the  idea  that  he  was  petting  and  stroking  ani- 
mals. After  some  time  he  arrived  at  psychical  onanism,^ 
produced  by  vividly  imagining  such  situations,  and  ac- 
companied by  orgasm  and  ejaculation.  This  made  him 
neurasthenic. 

He  claimed  that  sodomitic  ideas  never  entered  his 
mind,  that  the  sexus  hestiarum  never  influenced  his  fancies 
or  actions,  in  fact  he  had  given  it  no  thought. 

He  never  had  homosexual  instinct;  but  heterosexual 
desires  were  not  foreign  to  him,  though  he  had  never 
indulged  in  coitus  because  of  want  of  libido  {ex  masturba- 
tione  et  neurasthenia!)  and  from  fear  of  infection.  He  was 
drawn  only  to  women  of  lithe  figure  and  with  a  proud 
gait. 

The  usual  symptoms  of  cerebro-spinal  neurasthenia 
were  present.  Patient  was  of  slight  build  and  anaemic.  He 
was  greatly  concerned  to  know  whether  his  lost  virility 
could  be  restored,  as  this  would  raise  his  waning  self- 
esteem. 

Suggestions  how  to  avoid  psychic  onanism,  to  remove 
neurasthenia,  to  strengthen  the  sexual  centres,  to  satisfy 
the  vita  sexualis  in  the  normal  way  as  soon  as  this  should 
be  possible  and  successful. 

Epicrisis.  ISTo  bestiality,  but  fetichism.  Very  likely 
the  petting  of  domestic  animals  coupled  with  an  abnormally 
premature  vita  sexualis  coincided  with  a  primary  sexual 
emotion — probably  originating  from  tactile  sensations — 
and  thus  established  an  association  between  the  two  facts 
which  by  repetition  became  permanent  (^^Zeitschr.  f.  Psy- 
chiatric,'' Bd.  50). 

Antipathic  Sexuality. 

After  the  attainment  of  complete  sexual  development, 
among  the  most  constant  elements  of  self-consciousness  in 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUALITY. 


283 


the  individual  are  the  knowledge  of  representing  a  definite 
sexual  personality  and  the  consciousness  of  desire^  during 
the  period  of  physiological  activity  of  the  reproductive 
organs  (production  of  semen  and  ova),  to  perform  sexual 
acts  corresponding  with  that  sexual  personality, — acts 
which,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  have  a  procreative 
purpose. 

The  sexual  instinct  and  desire,  save  for  indistinct 
feelings  and  impulses,  remain  latent  until  the  period  of 
development  of  the  sexual  organs.  The  child  is  generis 
neutrius;  and  though,  during  this  latent  period, — when 
sexuality  has  not  yet  risen  into  clear  consciousness,  is  but 
virtually  present,  and  unconnected  with  powerful  organic 
sensations, — abnormally  early  excitation  of  the  genitals 
may  occur,  either  spontaneously  or  as  a  result  of  external 
influence,  and  find  satisfaction  in  masturbation;  yet, 
notwithstanding  this,  the  psychical  relation  to  persons  of 
the  opposite  sex  is  still  absolutely  wanting,  and  the  sexual 
acts  during  this  period  exhibit  more  or  less  a  reflex  spinal 
character. 

The  existence  of  innocence,  or  of  sexual  neutrality,  is 
the  more  remarkable,  since  very  early  in  education,  employ- 
ment, dress,  etc.,  the  child  undergoes  a  differentiation  from 
children  of  the  opposite  sex.  These  impressions  remain, 
however,  devoid  of  psychical  significance,  because  they 
apparently  are  stripped  of  sexual  meaning ;  for  the  central 
organ  (cortex)  of  sexual  emotions  and  ideas  is  not  yet 
capable  of  activity,  owing  to  its  undeveloped  condition. 

With  the  inception  of  anatomical  and  functional 
development  of  the  generative  organs,  and  the  differen- 
tiation of  form  belonging  to  each  sex,  which  goes  hand 
in  hand  with  it  (in  the  boy  as  well  as  in  the  girl),  rudi- 
ments of  a  mental  feeling  corresponding  with  the  sex 
are  developed;  and  in  this,  of  course,  education  and 
external  influences  in  general  have  a  powerful  effect  upon 
the  individual,  who  now  begins  to  observe. 

If  the  sexual  development  is  normal  and  undisturbed, 
a  definite  character,  corresponding  with  the  sex,  is  devel- 


284 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


oped.  Certain  well-defined  inclinations  and  reactions  in 
intercourse  with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex  arise;  and 
it  is  psychologically  worthy  of  note  with  what  relative 
rapidity  each  individual  psychical  type  corresponding  with 
the  sex  is  evolved. 

While  modesty,  for  instance,  during  childhood,  is 
essentially  but  an  uncomprehended  and  incomprehensible 
exaction  of  education  and  imitation,  expressed  but  im- 
perfectly in  the  innocence  and  naivete  of  the  child;  in 
the  youth  and  maiden  it  becomes  an  imperative  require- 
ment of  self-respect;  and,  if  in  any  way  it  is  offended, 
intense  vaso-motor  reaction  (blushing)  and  psychical 
emotions  are  induced. 

If  the  original  constitution  is  favourable  and  normal, 
and  factors  injurious  to  the  psycho-sexual  development 
exercise  no  adverse  influence,  then  a  psycho-sexual 
personality  is  developed  which  is  so  unchangeable  and 
corresponds  so  completely  and  harmoniously  with  the  sex 
of  the  individual  in  question,  that  subsequent  loss  of  the 
generative  organs  (as  by  castration),  or  the  climacterium 
or  senility,  cannot  essentially  alter  it. 

This,  however,  must  not  be  taken  as  a  declaration  that 
the  castrated  man  or  woman,  the  youth  and  the  aged 
man,  the  maiden  and  the  matron,  the  impotent  and  the 
potent  man,  do  not  differ  essentially  from  each  other  in 
their  psychical  existence. 

An  interesting  and  important  question  for  what  follows 
is,  whether  the  peripheral  influences  of  the  generative 
glands  (testes  and  ovaries),  or  central  cerebral  conditions, 
are  the  determining  factors  in  psycho-sexual  development. 
The  fact  that  congenital  deficiency  of  the  generative 
glands,  or  removal  of  them  before  puberty,  have  a  great 
influence  on  physical  and  psycho-sexual  development,  so 
that  the  latter  is  stunted  and  assumes  a  type  more  closely 
resembling  the  opposite  sex  (eunuchs,  certain  viragoes, 
etc.),  betokens  their  great  importance  in  this  respect. 

That  the  physical  processes  taking  place  in  the  genital 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUALITY. 


285 


organs  are  only  co-operative,  and  not  the  exclusive  factors, 
in  the  process  of  development  of  the  psycho-sexual  char- 
acter, is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  notv^ithstanding  a  normal 
anatomical  and  physiological  state  of  these  organs,  a  sexual 
instinct  may  be  developed  which  is  the  exact  opposite  of 
that  characteristic  of  the  sex  to  which  the  individual 
belongs. 

In  this  case,  the  cause  is  to  be  sought  only  in  an  anom- 
aly of  central  conditions, — in  an  abnormal  psycho-sexual 
constitution.  This  constitution,  as  far  as  its  anatomical 
and  functional  foundation  is  concerned,  is  as  yet  unknown. 
Since,  in  nearly  all  such  cases,  the  individual  tainted  with 
antipathic  sexual  instinct  displays  a  neuropathic  predispo- 
sition in  several  directions,  and  the  latter  may  be  brought 
into  relation  with  hereditary  degenerate  conditions,  this 
anomaly  of  psycho-sexual  feeling  may  be  called,  clinically, 
a  functional  sign  of  degeneration.  This  inverted  sexuality 
appears  spontaneously,  without  external  cause,  with  the 
development  of  sexual  life,  as  an  individual  manifestation 
of  an  abnormal  form  of  the  vita  sexualis^  having  the  force 
of  a  congenital  phenomenon ;  or  it  develops  upon  a  sexuality 
the  beginning  of  which  was  normal,  as  a  result  of  very 
definite  injurious  influences,  and  thus  appears  as  an  ac- 
quired  anomaly.  Upon  what  conditions  this  enigmatical 
phenomenon  of  acquired  homo-sexual  instinct  depends, 
remains  still  unexplained,  and  is  a  mere  matter  of  hypo- 
thesis. Careful  examination  of  the  so-called  acquired 
cases  makes  it  probable  that  the  predisposition  —  also 
present  here — consists  of  a  latent  homo-sexuality,  or,  at 
any  rate,  bi-sexuality,  which,  for  its  manifestation,  re- 
quires the  influence  of  accidental  exciting  causes  to  rouse 
it  from  its  dormant  state. 

In  so-called  antipathic  sexual  instinct  there  are  degrees 
of  the  phenomenon  which  quite  correspond  with  the  de- 
grees of  predisposition  of  the  individuals.  Thus,  in  the 
milder  cases,  there  is  simple  hermaphroditism;  in  more 
pronounced  cases,  only  homo-sexual  feeling  and  instinct, 
but  limited  to  the  vita  sexualis;  in  still  more  complete 


286 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


cases,  the  \Ybole  psychical  personality,  and  even  the  bodily 
sensations,  are  transformed  so  as  to  correspond  with  the 
sexual  inversion;  and,  in  the  complete  cases,  the  physical 
form  is  correspondingly  altered. 

The  following  division  of  the  various  phenomena  of 
this  psycho-sexual  anomaly  is  made,  therefore,  in  accord- 
ance with  these  clinical  facts. 

A.  Homo-sexual  Feeling  as  an  Acquired  Manifestation  in 

Both  Sexes. 

The  determining  factor  here  is  the  demonstration  of 
perverse  feeling  for  the  same  sex;  not  the  proof  of  sexual 
acts  with  the  same  sex.  These  two  phenomena  must  not 
be  confounded  with  each  other;  perversity  must  not  be 
taken  for  perversion. 

Perverse  sexual  acts,  without  being  dependent  upon 
perversion,  often  come  under  observation.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  with  reference  to  sexual  acts  between  persons 
of  the  same  sex,  particularly  in  pederasty.  Here  parces- 
thesia  sexualis  is  not  necessarily  at  work;  but  hyperaes- 
thesia,  with  physical  or  psychical  impossibility  for  natural 
sexual  satisfaction. 

Thus  we  find  homo  -  sexual  intercourse  in  impotent 
masturbators  or  debauchees,  or  faute  de  mieux  in  sensual 
men  and  women  under  imprisonment,  on  ship-board,  in 
garrisons,  bagnios,  boarding-schools,  etc. 

There  is  an  immediate  return  to  normal  sexual  inter- 
course as  soon  as  the  obstacles  to  it  are  removed.  Very 
frequently  the  cause  of  such  temporary  aberration  is 
masturbation  and  its  results  in  youthful  individuals. 

Nothing  is  so  prone  to  contaminate — under  certain 
circumstances,  even  to  exhaust — the  source  of  all  noble 
and  ideal  sentiments,  which  arise  of  themselves  from  a 
normally  developing  sexual  instinct,  as  the  practice  of 
masturbation  in  early  years.  It  despoils  the  unfolding  bud 
of  perfume  and  beauty,  and  leaves  behind  only  the  coarse, 
animal  desire  for  sexual  satisfaction.    If  an  individual, 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  287 

thus  depraved,  reaches  the  age  of  maturity,  there  is 
wanting  in  him  that  aesthetic,  ideal,  pure  and  free  impulse 
which  draws  the  opposite  sexes  together.  The  glow  of 
sensual  sensibility  wanes,  and  the  inclination  toward  the 
opposite  sex  is  weakened.  This  defect  influences  the 
morals,  the  character,  fancy,  feeling  and  instinct  of  the 
youthful  masturbator,  male  or  female,  in  an  unfavourable 
manner,  even  causing,  under  certain  circumstances,  the 
desire  for  the  opposite  sex  to  sink  to  nil;  so  that  masturba- 
tion is  preferred  to  the  natural  mode  of  satisfaction. 

Sometimes  the  development  of  the  nobler  sexual  feel- 
ings toward  the  opposite  sex  suffers,  on  account  of  hypo- 
chrondriacal  fear  of  infection  in  sexual  intercourse;  or 
on  account  of  an  actual  infection ;  or  as  a  result  of  a  faulty 
education  which  points  out  such  dangers  and  exaggerates 
them.  Again  (especially  in  females),  fear  of  the  result  of 
coitus  (pregnancy),  or  abhorrence  of  men,  by  reason  of 
physical  or  moral  defects,  may  direct  into  perverse  chan- 
nels an  instinct  that  makes  itself  felt  with  abnormal  in- 
tensity. On  the  other  hand,  premature  and  perverse 
sexual  satisfaction  injures  not  merely  the  mind,  but  also 
the  body;  inasmuch  as  it  induces  neuroses  of  the  sexual 
apparatus  (irritable  weakness  of  the  centres  governing 
erection  and  ejaculation;  defective  pleasurable  feeling  in 
coitus,  etc.),  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  maintains  imagin- 
ation and  libido  in  continuous  excitement. 

Almost  every  masturbator  at  last  reaches  a  point 
where,  frightened  on  learning  the  results  of  the  vice,  or  on 
experiencing  them  (neurasthenia),  or  led  by  example  or 
seduction  to  the  opposite  sex,  he  wishes  to  free  himself 
of  the  vice  and  re-instate  his  vita  sexualis. 

The  moral  and  mental  conditions  are  here  the  most 
unfavourable  possible.  The  pure  glow  of  sexual  feeling  is 
destroyed;  the  fire  of  sexual  instinct  is  wanting,  and  self- 
confidence  is  lost;  for  every  masturbator  is  more  or  less 
timid  and  cowardly.  If  the  youthful  sinner  at  last  comes 
to  make  an  attempt  at  coitus,  he  is  either  disappointed 
because  enjoyment  is  wanting,  on  account  of  defective 


288 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sensual  feeling,  or  he  is  lacking  in  the  physical  strength 
necessary  to  accomplish  the  act.  This  fiasco  has  a  fatal 
effect,  and  leads  to  absolute  psychical  impotence.  A  bad 
conscience  and  the  memory  of  past  failures  prevent  suc- 
cess in  any  further  attempts.  The  ever  present  libido 
sexualis,  however,  demands  satisfaction,  and  this  moral 
and  mental  perversion  separates  further  and  further  from 
woman. 

For  various  reasons,  however,  (neurasthenic  complaints, 
hypochondriacal  fear  of  results,  etc.),  the  individual  is 
also  kept  from  masturbation.  At  times,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, bestiality  is  resorted  to.  Intercourse  with  the 
same  sex  is  then  near  at  hand, — as  the  result  of  seduction 
or  of  the  feelings  of  friendship  which,  on  the  level  of  patho- 
logical sexuality,  easily  associate  themselves  with  sexual 
feelings. 

Passive  and  mutual  onanism  now  become  the  equivalent 
of  the  avoided  act.  If  there  is  a  seducer, — which,  un- 
fortunately often  happens, — then  the  cultivated  pederast 
is  produced, — i.e.^  a  man  who  performs  quasi  acts  of  onan- 
ism with  persons  of  his  own  sex,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
feels  and  prefers  himself  in  an  active  role  corresponding 
with  his  real  sex;  who  is  mentally  indifferent  not  only  to 
persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  but  also  to  those  of  his  own. 

Sexual  aberration  reaches  this  degree  in  the  normally 
constituted,  untainted,  mentally  healthy  individual.  No 
case  has  yet  been  demonstrated  in  which  perversity  has 
been  transformed  into  perversion — i.e.,  into  an  inversion 
of  the  sexual  instinct.^ 

^Gamier  ("Anomalies  Sexuelles,"  Paris,  pp.  508,  509)  reports 
two  cases  (cases  222  and  223)  that  are  apparently  opposed  to  this 
assumption,  particularly  the  first,  in  which  despair  about  the  unfaith- 
fulness of  a  lover  led  the  individual  to  submit  to  the  seductions  of 
men.  But  the  case  itself  clearly  shows  that  this  individual  never 
found  pleasure  in  homo-sexual  acts.  In  case  223,  the  individual  was 
effeminated  ah  origine,  or  was  at  least  a  psychical  hermaphrodite. 

Those  who  hold  to  the  opinion  that  the  origin  of  homo-sexual 
feelings  and  instinct  is  found  to  be  exclusively  in  defective  education 
and  other  psychological  influences  are  entirely  in  error. 

An  untainted  male  may  be  raised  ever  so  much  like  a  female, 


HOMO-SEXUAX.  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  289^ 

With  tainted  individuals,  the  matter  is  quite  different. 
The  latent  perverse  sexuality  is  developed  under  the  influ- 
ence of  neurasthenia  induced  by  masturbation,  abstinence, 
or  otherwise. 

Gradually,  in  contact  with  persons  of  the  same  sex, 
sexual  excitation  by  them  is  induced.  Related  ideas  are 
coloured  with  lustful  feelings,  and  awaken  corresponding 
desires.  This  decidedly  degenerate  reaction  is  the  begin- 
ning of  a  process  of  physical  and  mental  transformation, 
a  description  of  which  is  attempted  in  what  follows,  and 
which  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  psychological  phenom- 
ena that  have  been  observed.  This  metamorphosis  pre- 
sents different  stages,  or  degrees. 

1.    Degree:  Simple  Reversal  of  Sexual  Feeling. 

This  degree  is  attained  when  a  person  exercises  an 
aphrodisiac  effect  over  another  person  of  the  same  sex 
who  reciprocates  the  sexual  feeling.  Character  and  in- 
stinct, however,  still  correspond  with  the  sex  of  the  indi- 

and  a  female  like  a  male,  but  they  will  not  become  homo-sexual. 
The  natural  disposition  is  the  determining  condition;  not  education 
and  other  accidental  circumstances,  Wee  seduction.  There  can  be  no 
thought  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct  save  when  the  person  of  the 
same  sex  exerts  a  psycho-sexual  influence  over  the  individual,  and 
thus  brings  about  libido  and  orgasm, — i.  e.,  has  a  psychical  attrac- 
tion. Those  cases  are  quite  different  in  which,  faute  de  mieux,  with 
great  sensuality  and  a  defective  sesthetic  sense,  the  body  of  a  person 
of  the  same  sex  is  used  for  an  onanistic  act  (not  for  coitus  in  a 
psychical  sense). 

In  his  excellent  monograph,  Moll  shows  very  clearly  and  con- 
vincingly  the  importance  of  original  predisposition  in  contrast  with 
exciting  causes  {cf,  op.  cit,,  pp.  212-231).  He  knows  "many  cases 
where  early  sexual  intercourse  with  men  was  not  capable  of  inducing 
perversion."  Moll  significantly  says,  further :  "  I  know  of  such  an 
epidemic  (of  mutual  onanism)  in  a  Berlin  school,  where  a  person, 
who  is  now  an  actor,  shamelessly  introduced  mutual  onanism. 
Though  I  now  know  the  names  of  very  many  urnings  in  Berlin,  yet 
I  could  not  ascertain,  even  with  anything  like  probability,  that  among 
all  the  pupils  of  that  school  at  that  time  there  was  one  that  had 
become  an  urning;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  quite  certain 
knowledge  that  many  of  those  pupils  are  now  normal  sexuallv.  in 
feeling  and  intercourse, 

19 


290 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


vidual  presenting  the  reversal  of  sexual  feeling.  He  feels 
himself  in  the  active  role;  he  recognizes  his  impulse 
toward  his  own  sex  as  an  aberration^  and  finally  seeks 
aid. 

With  episodical  improvement  of  the  neurosis,  at  first 
even  normal  sexual  feelings  may  reappear  and  assert 
themselves.  The  following  case  seems  well  suited  to 
exemplify  this  stage  of  the  psycho-sexual  degeneration: — 

Case  125.  A  cquired  Antipathic  Sexual  Instinct,  "1 
am  an  official,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  come  from  an  un- 
tainted family.  My  father  died  of  an  acute  disease;  my 
mother,  still  living,  is  very  nervous.  A  sister  has  been  very 
intensely  religious  for  some  years. 

''1  myself  am  tall,  and,  in  speech,  gait  and  manner, 
give  a  perfectly  masculine  impression.  Measles  is  the 
only  disease  I  have  had;  but  since  my  thirteenth  year  I 
have  suffered  with  so-called  nervous  headaches. 

"My  sexual  life  began  in  my  thirteenth  year,  when 
I  became  acquainted  with  a  boy  somewhat  older  than 
myself,  quocum  alter  alterius  genitalia  tangendo  delectahar. 
I  had  the  first  ejaculation  in  my  fourteenth  year.  Seduced 
to  onanism  by  two  older  school-mates,  I  practised  it  partly 
with  others  and  partly  alone;  in  the  latter  case,  however, 
always  with  the  thought  of  persons  of  the  female  sex.  My 
libido  sexualis  was  very  great,  as  it  is  to-day.  Later,  I 
tried  to  win  a  pretty,  stout  servant-girl  who  had  very 
large  mammce ;  id  solum  assecutus  sum,  ut  me  prsesente 
superiorem  corporis  sui  partem  enudaret  mihique  conce- 
deret  os  mammasque  osculari,  dum  ipsa  penem  meum 
valde  erectum  in  manum  suam  recepit  eumque  trivit. 

"Quamquam  violentissime  coitum  rogarem  hoc  solum 
concessit,  ut  genitalia  ejus  tangerem. 

"After  going  to  the  university,  I  visited  a  brothel  and 
succeeded  without  special  effort. 

"Then  an  event  occurred  which  brought  about  a  change 
in  me.  One  evening  I  accompanied  a  friend  home,  and 
in  a  mild  state  of  intoxication  I  grasped  him  ad  genitalia. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


291 


He  made  but  slight  opposition.  I  then  went  up  to  his 
room  with  him,  and  we  practised  mutual  masturbation. 
From  that  time  we  indulged  in  it  quite  frequently;  in 
fact,  it  came  to  immissio  penis  in  os,  with  resultant  ejacu- 
lations. But  it  is  strange  that  I  was  not  at  all  in  love  with 
this  person,  but  passionately  in  love  with  another  friend, 
near  whom  I  never  felt  the  slightest  sexual  excitement,  and 
whom  I  never  connected  with  sexual  matters,  even  in 
thought.  My  visits  to  brothels,  where  I  was  gladly  re- 
ceived, became  more  infrequent;  in  my  friend  I  found 
a  substitute,  and  did  not  desire  sexual  intercourse  with 
women. 

^^We  never  practised  pederasty.  That  word  was  not 
even  known  between  us.  From  the  beginning  of  this  rela- 
tion with  my  friend,  I  again  masturbated  more  frequently, 
and  naturally  the  thought  of  females  receded  more  and 
more  into  the  background,  and  I  thought  more  and  more 
about  young,  handsome,  strong  men  with  the  largest  pos- 
sible genitals.  I  preferred  young  fellows,  from  sixteen  to 
twenty-five  years  old,  without  beards,  but  they  had  to 
be  handsome  and  clean.  Young  labourers  dressed  in 
trousers  of  Manchester  cloth  or  English  leather,  partic- 
ularly masons,  especially  excited  me. 

^^Persons  in  my  own  position  had  hardly  any  effect  on 
me;  but,  at  the  sight  of  one  of  those  strapping  fellows  of 
the  lower  class,  I  experienced  marked  sexual  excitement. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  touch  of  such  trousers,  the  open- 
ing of  them  and  the  grasping  of  the  penis,  as  well  as 
kissing  the  fellow,  would  be  the  greatest  delight.  My 
sensibility  to  female  charms  is  somewhat  dulled;  yet  in 
sexual  intercourse  with  a  woman,  particularly  when  she 
has  well-developed  mammse,  I  am  always  potent  without 
the  help  of  imagination.  I  have  never  attempted  to  make 
use  of  a  young  labourer,  or  the  like,  for  the  satisfaction  of 
my  evil  desires,  and  never  shall ;  but  I  often  feel  a  longing 
to  do  it.  I  often  impress  on  myself  the  mental  image  of 
such  a  man,  and  then  masturbate  at  home. 

^^I  am  absolutely  devoid  of  taste  for  female  work.  I 


292 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


rather  like  to  move  in  female  society,  but  dancing  is 
repugnant  to  me.  I  have  a  lively  interest  in  the  fine  arts. 
That  my  sexual  sense  is  partly  reversed  is,  I  believe,  in 
part  due  to  greater  convenience,  which  keeps  me  from 
entering  into  a  relation  with  a  girl;  as  the  latter  is  a 
matter  of  too  much  trouble.  To  be  constantly  visiting 
houses  of  prostitution  is,  for  aesthetic  reasons,  repugnant 
to  me ;  and  thus  I  am  always  returning  to  solitary  onanism, 
which  is  very  difficult  for  me  to  avoid. 

^^Hundreds  of  times  I  have  said  to  myself  that,  in 
order  to  have  a  normal  sexual  sense,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  me,  first  of  all,  to  overcome  my  irresistible  passion 
for  onanism, — a  practice  so  repugnant  to  my  aesthetic 
feeling.  Again  and  again  I  have  resolved  with  all  my 
might  to  fight  this  passion;  but  I  am  still  unsuccessful. 
When  I  felt  the  sexual  impulse  gaining  strength,  instead 
of  seeking  satisfaction  in  the  natural  manner,  I  preferred 
to  masturbate,  because  I  felt  that  I  would  thus  have  more 
enjoyment. 

^^And  yet  experience  has  taught  me  that  I  am  always 
potent  with  girls,  and  that,  too,  without  trouble  and  with- 
out the  vision  of  masculine  genitals.  In  one  case,  how- 
ever, I  did  not  attain  ejaculation  because  the  woman — it 
was  in  a  brothel — was  devoid  of  every  charm.  I  cannot 
avoid  the  thought  and  severe  self-accusation  that,  to  a 
certain  extent,  my  inverted  sexuality  is  the  result  of 
excessive  onanism;  and  this  especially  depresses  me,  be- 
cause I  am  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  I  scarcely  feel 
strong  enough  to  overcome  this  vice  by  the  force  of  my 
own  will. 

^^As  a  result  of  my  relations  for  years  with  a  fellow- 
student  and  pal,  mentioned  in  this  communication — 
which,  however,  began  while  we  were  at  the  university, 
and  after  we  had  been  friends  for  seven  years — the  im- 
pulse to  unnatural  satisfaction  of  libido  has  grown  much 
stronger.  I  trust  you  will  permit  the  description  of  an 
incident  which  worried  me  for  months : — 

^^In  the  summer  of  1882,  I  made  the  acquaintance 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  293 

of  a  companion  six  years  younger  than  myself,  who,  with 
several  others,  had  been  introduced  to  me  and  my  ac- 
quaintances. I  very  soon  felt  a  deep  interest  in  this 
handsome  man,  who  was  unusually  well-proportioned, 
slim,  and  full  of  health.  After  a  few  weeks  of  associa- 
tion, this  liking  ripened  into  friendship,  and  at  last  into 
passionate  love,  with  feelings  of  the  most  intense  jealousy. 
I  very  soon  noticed  that  in  this  love  sexual  excitation  was 
also  very  marked;  and,  notwithstanding  my  determina- 
tion, aside  from  all  others,  to  keep  myself  in  check  in 
relation  to  this  man,  whom  I  respected  so  highly  for  his 
superior  character,  one  night,  after  free  indulgence  in 
beer,  as  we  were  enjoying  a  bottle  of  champagne  in  my 
room,  and  drinking  to  good,  true  and  lasting  friendship, 
I  yielded  to  the  irresistible  impulse  to  embrace  him,  etc. 

"When  I  saw  him  next  day,  I  was  so  ashamed  that 
I  could  not  look  him  in  the  face.  I  felt  the  deepest  regret 
for  my  action,  and  accused  myself  bitterly  for  having  thus 
sullied  this  friendship,  which  was  to  be  and  remain  so 
pure  and  precious.  In  order  to  prove  to  him  that  I  had 
lost  control  of  myself  only  momentarily,  at  the  end  of 
the  semester  I  urged  him  to  make  an  excursion  with  me; 
and  after  some  reluctance,  the  reason  of  which  was  only 
too  clear  to  me,  he  consented.  Several  nights  we  slept 
in  the  same  room  without  any  attempt  on  my  part  to 
repeat  my  action.  I  wished  to  talk  with  him  about  the 
event  of  that  night,  but  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  it; 
even  when,  during  the  next  semester,  we  were  separated, 
I  could  not  induce  myself  to  write  to  him  on  the  subject; 
and  when  I  visited  him  in  March  at  X.,  it  was  the  same. 
And  yet  I  felt  a  great  desire  to  clear  up  this  dark  point 
by  an  open  statement.  In  October  of  the  same  year  I 
was  again  in  X.,  and  this  time  found  courage  to  speak 
without  reserve;  indeed,  I  asked  him  why  he  had  not 
resisted  me.  He  answered  that,  in  part,  it  was  because 
he  wished  to  please  me,  and,  in  part,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  somewhat  apathetic  as  a  result  of  being  a 
little  intoxicated.    I  explained  to  him  my  condition,  and 


294 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


also  gave  him  ^^Psychopathia  Sexualis"  to  read,  express- 
ing the  hope  that  by  the  force  of  my  own  will  I  should 
become  fully  and  lastingly  master  of  my  unnatural  im- 
pulse. Since  this  confession,  the  relation  between  this 
friend  and  me  has  been  the  most  delightful  and  happy 
possible;  there  are  the  most  friendly  feelings  on  both 
sides,  which  are  sincere  and  true;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  they  will  endure. 

^^If  I  should  not  improve  my  abnormal  condition,  I 
am  determined  to  put  myself  under  your  treatment;  the 
more  because,  after  a  careful  study  of  your  work,  I  can- 
not count  myself  as  belonging  to  the  category  of  so-called 
urnings;  and  also  because  I  have  the  firm  conviction,  or 
hope,  at  least,  that  a  strong  will,  assisted  and  combined 
with  skilful  treatment,  could  transform  me  into  a  man 
of  normal  feeling.'^ 

Case  126.  lima  S.,^  aged  twenty-nine;  single,  mer- 
chant's daughter;  of  a  family  having  bad  nervous  taint. 
Father  was  a  drinker  and  died  by  suicide,  as  also  did  the 
patient's  brother  and  sister.  A  sister  suffered  with  con- 
vulsive hysteria.  Mother's  father  shot  himself  while  in- 
sane. Mother  was  sickly,  and  paralysed  after  apoplexy. 
The  patient  never  had  any  severe  illness.  She  was  bright, 
enthusiastic  and  dreamy.  Menses  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
without  difficulty ;  but  thereafter  they  were  very  irregular. 
At  fourteen,  chlorosis  and  catalepsy  from  fright.  Later, 
hysteria  gravis  and  an  attack  of  hysterical  insanity.  At 
eighteen,  relations  with  a  young  man  which  were  not  pla- 
tonic.  This  man's  love  was  passionately  returned.  From 
statements  of  the  patient,  it  seemed  that  she  was  very 
sensual,  and  after  separation  from  her  lover  practised 
masturbation.  After  this  she  led  a  romantic  life.  In  order 
to  earn  a  living,  she  put  on  male  clothing,  and  became  a 
tutor;  but  she  gave  up  her  place  because  her  mistress, 
not  knowing  her  sex,  fell  in  love  with  her  and  courted  her. 

^  Cf,  author's  Experimental  Study  in  the  Domain  of  Hyp- 
notism/' third  edition,  1893. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


295 


Then  she  became  a  railway  employee.  In  the  company  of 
her  companions,  in  order  to  conceal  her  sex,  she  was  com- 
pelled to  visit  brothels  with  them,  and  hear  the  most  vul- 
gar stories.  This  became  so  distasteful  to  her  that  she 
gave  up  her  place,  resumed  the  garments  of  a  female,  and 
again  sought  to  earn  her  living.  She  was  arrested  for 
theft,  and  on  account  of  severe  hystero-epilepsy  was  sent 
to  the  hospital.  There  inclination  and  impulse  toward  the 
same  sex  were  discovered.  The  patient  became  trouble- 
some on  account  of  passionate  love  for  female  nurses  and 
patients. 

Her  sexual  inversion  was  considered  congenital.  With 
regard  to  this,  the  patient  made  some  interesting  state- 
ments : — 

^^I  am  judged  incorrectly,  if  it  is  thought  that  I  feel 
myself  a  man  toward  the  female  sex.  In  my  whole  thought 
and  feeling  I  am  much  more  a  woman.  Did  I  not  love 
my  cousin  as  only  a  woman  can  love  a  man  ? 

^^The  change  of  my  feelings  originated  in  this,  that,  in 
Pesth,  dressed  as  a  man,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  observe 
my  cousin.  I  saw  that  I  was  wholly  deceived  in  him.  That 
gave  me  terrible  heart-pangs.  I  knew  that  I  could  never 
love  another  man;  that  I  belonged  to  those  who  love  but 
once.  Of  similar  effect  was  the  fact  that,  in  the  society 
of  my  companions  at  the  railway,  I  was  compelled  to  hear 
the  most  offensive  language  and  visit  the  most  disreputa- 
ble houses.  As  a  result  of  the  insight  into  men's  motives, 
gained  in  this  way,  I  took  an  unconquerable  dislike  to 
them.  However,  since  I  am  of  a  very  passionate  nature 
and  need  to  have  some  loving  person  on  whom  to  depend, 
and  to  whom  I  can  wholly  surrender  myself,  I  felt  myself 
more  and  more  powerfully  drawn  toward  intelligent  women 
and  girls  who  were  in  sympathy  with  me." 

The  antipathic  sexual  instinct  of  this  patient,  which 
was  clearly  acquired,  expressed  itself  in  a  stormy  and  de- 
cidedly sensual  way,  and  was  further  augmented  by  mas- 
turbation; because  constant  control  in  hospitals  made  sex- 
ual satisfaction  with  the  same  sex  impossible.  Character 


296 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


and  occupation  remained  feminine.  There  were  no  man- 
ifestations of  viraginity.  According  to  information  lately 
received  by  the  author,  this  patient,  after  two  years  of 
treatment  in  an  asylum,  was  entirely  freed  from  her  neu- 
rosis and  sexual  inversion,  and  discharged  cured. 

Case  127.  Mr.  X.,  aged  thirty-five,  single,  civil 
servant ;  mother  insane,  brother  hypochondriacal. 

Patient  was  healthy,  strong,  of  lively  sensual  tempera- 
ment. He  had  manifested  powerful  sexual  instinct  abnor- 
mally early,  and  masturbated  while  yet  a  small  boy.  He 
had  coitus  the  first  time  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  with  en- 
joyment and  complete  power.  When  fifteen  years  old, 
a  man  sought  to  seduce  him,  and  performed  manustupra- 
tion  on  him.  X.  experienced  a  feeling  of  repulsion,  and 
freed  himself  from  the  disgusting  situation.  At  maturity 
he  committed  excesses  in  libido^  with  coitus;  in  1880  he 
became  neurasthenic,  being  afflicted  with  weakness  of  erec- 
tion and  ejaculatio  prcecox.  He  thus  became  less  and  less 
potent,  and  no  longer  experienced  pleasure  in  the  sexual 
act.  At  this  period  of  sexual  decadence,  for  a  long  time 
he  still  had  what  was  previously  foreign  to  him, — still 
incomprehensible  to  him, — an  inclination  for  sexual  inter- 
course with  immature  girls  of  the  age  of  twelve  or  thir- 
teen.   His  libido  increased  as  virility  diminished. 

Gradually  he  developed  inclination  for  boys  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen.    He  was  impelled  to  approach  them. 

Quodsi  ei  occasio  data  est  ut  tangere  posset  pueros  qui 
ei  placuere,  penis  vehementer  se  erexit  tum  maxime  quum 
crura  puerorum  tangere  potuisset.  Abhinc  feminas  non 
cupivit.  Konnunquam  feminas  ad  coitum  coegit  sed  erectio 
debilis,  ejaculatio  prsematura  erat  sine  ulla  voluptate. 

'Now  only  youths  interested  him.  He  dreamed  about 
them  and  had  pollutions.  After  1882  he  now  and  then 
had  opportunity  concumhere  cum  juvenibus.  This  led  to 
powerful  sexual  excitement,  which  he  satisfied  by  mas- 
turbation. It  was  quite  exceptional  for  him  to  venture 
touching  his  bed-fellow  and  indulging  in  mutual  mas- 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  297 

turbation.  He  shunned  pederasty.  For  the  most  part,  he 
was  compelled  to  satisfy  his  sexual  needs  by  means  of 
solitary  masturbation.  In  the  act  he  called  up  the  vision 
of  pleasing  boys.  After  sexual  intercourse  with  such  boys, 
he  always  felt  strengthened  and  refreshed,  but  morally 
depressed;  because  there  was  consciousness  of  having 
performed  a  perverse,  indecent  and  punishable  act.  He 
found  it  painful  that  his  disgusting  impulse  was  more 
powerful  than  his  will. 

X.  thought  that  his  love  for  his  own  sex  had  resulted 
from  great  excess  in  natural  sexual  intercourse,  and  be- 
moaned his  situation.  On  the  occasion  of  a  consultation, 
in  December,  1889,  he  asked  me  whether  there  were  any 
means  to  bring  him  back  to  a  normal  sexual  condition, 
since  he  had  no  real  horror  femincej  and  would  very  gladly 
marry. 

This  intelligent  patient,  free  from  degenerative  signs, 
presented  no  abnormal  symptoms  except  those  of  sexual 
and  spinal  neurasthenia  in  a  moderate  degree. 

//.    Degree:  Eviration  and  Defemination. 

If,  in  cases  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct  thus  developed, 
no  restoration  occurs,  then  deep  and  lasting  transforma- 
tions of  the  psychical  personality  may  occur.  The  process 
completing  itself  in  this  way  may  be  briefly  designated 
eviration  (defemination  in  woman).  The  patient  under- 
goes a  deep  change  of  character,  particularly  in  his  feelings 
and  inclinations,  which  thus  become  those  of  a  female. 
After  this,  he  also  feels  himself  to  be  a  woman  during  the 
sexual  act,  has  desire  only  for  passive  sexual  indulgence, 
and,  under  certain  circumstances,  sinks  to  the  level  of  a 
prostitute.  In  this  condition  of  deep  and  more  lasting 
psycho-sexual  transformation,  the  individual  is  like  unto 
the  (congenital)  urning  of  high  grade.  The  possibility  of  a 
restoration  of  the  previous  mental  and  sexual  personality 
seems  in  such  a  case,  precluded. 


298  PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 

The  following  case  is  a  classical  example  of  this  variety 
of  lasting  acquired  antipathic  sexual  instinct : — 

Case  128.  Sch.,  aged  thirty,  physician,  one  day  told 
me  the  story  of  his  life  and  malady,  asking  for  explana- 
tion and  advice  concerning  certain  anomalies  for  his  vita 
sexualis.  The  following  description  gives,  for  the  most 
part  verbatim,  the  details  of  the  autobiography;  only  in 
some  portions  it  is  shortened : — 

^^My  parents  were  healthy.  As  a  child  I  was  sickly; 
but  with  good  care  I  thrived,  and  got  on  well  in  school. 
When  eleven  years  old,  I  was  taught  to  masturbate  by  my 
playmates,  and  gave  myself  up  to  it  passionately.  Until 
I  was  fifteen,  I  learned  easily.  On  account  of  frequent 
pollutions,  I  became  less  capable,  and  did  not  get  on  well  in 
school,  and  was  uncertain  and  embarrassed  when  called 
on  by  the  teacher.  Frightened  by  my  loss  of  capability, 
and  recognising  that  the  loss  of  semen  was  responsible  for 
it,  I  gave  up  masturbation;  but  the  pollutions  became 
even  more  frequent,  so  that  I  often  had  two  or  three  in  a 
night.  In  despair,  I  now  consulted  one  physician  after 
another.    JSTone  were  able  to  help  me. 

Since  I  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  by  reason  of  the 
loss  of  semen,  with  the  sexual  appetite  growing  more  and 
more  powerful,  I  sought  houses  of  prostitution.  But  I  was 
there  unable  to  find  satisfaction;  for,  even  though  the 
sight  of  a  naked  female  pleased  me,  neither  orgasm  nor 
erection  occurred;  and  even  manustupration  by  the  puella 
Avas  not  capable  of  inducing  erection.  Scarcely  would  I 
leave  the  house,  when  the  impulse  would  seize  me  again, 
and  I  would  have  violent  erections.  I  grew  ashamed 
before  the  girls,  and  ceased  to  visit  such  houses.  Thus  a 
couple  of  years  passed.  My  sexual  life  consisted  of  pollu- 
tions. My  inclination  toward  the  opposite  sex  grew  less 
and  less.  A't  nineteen  I  went  to  the  university.  The 
theatre  had  more  attractions  for  me :  I  wished  to  become 
an  actor.  My  parents  were  not  willing.  At  the  metro- 
polis I  was  compelled  now  and  then  to  visit  girls  with  mj 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IIT  BOTH  SEXES. 


299 


comrades.  I  feared  sucli  a  situation;  because  I  knew  that 
coitus  was  impossible  for  me,  and  because  my  friends 
might  discover  my  impotence.  Therefore,  I  avoided,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  danger  of  becoming  the  butt  of  their 
jokes  and  ridicule. 

^^One  evening,  in  the  opera-house,  an  old  gentleman 
sat  near  me.  He  courted  me.  I  laughed  heartily  at  the 
foolish  old  man,  and  entered  into  his  joke.  Exinopinato 
genitalia  mea  prehendit,  quo  facto  statim  penis  mens  se 
erexit.  Frightened,  I  demanded  of  him  what  he  meant. 
He  said  that  he  was  in  love  with  me.  Having  heard  of 
hermaphrodites  in  the  clinics,  I  thought  I  had  one  before 
me,  and  became  curious  to  see  his  genitals.  The  old  man 
was  very  willing,  and  went  with  me  to  the  water  closet. 
Sicuti  penem  maximum  ejus  erectum  adspexi,  perterritus 
effugi. 

^^This  man  followed  me,  and  made  strange  proposals 
which  I  did  not  understand,  and  repelled.  He  did  not  give 
me  any  rest.  I  learned  the  secrets  of  male  love  for  males, 
and  felt  that  my  sexuality  was  excited  by  it.  But  I 
resisted  the  shameful  passion  (as  I  then  regarded  it)  and, 
for  the  next  three  years,  I  remained  free  from  it.  During 
this  time  I  repeatedly  attempted  coitus  with  girls  in  vain. 
My  attempts  to  free  myself  of  my  impotence  by  means  of 
medical  treatment  were  also  in  vain.  Once,  when  my 
libido  sexualis  Avas  troubling  me  again,  I  recalled  what 
the  old  man  had  told  me :  that  male-loving  men  were  accus- 
tomed to  meet  on  the  E.  Promenade. 

After  a  hard  struggle,  and  with  beating  heart,  I  went 
there,  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  blonde  man,  and  allowed 
myself  to  be  seduced.  The  first  step  was  taken.  This 
kind  of  sexual  love  was  satisfactory  to  me.  I  always  pre- 
ferred to  be  in  the  arms  of  a  strong  man.  The  satisfaction 
consisted  of  mutual  manustupration ;  occasionally  in 
osculum  ad  penem  alterius.  I  was  then  twenty-three  years 
old.  Sitting,  together  with  my  comrades,  on  the  beds  of 
patients  in  the  clinic  during  the  lectures,  excited  me  so 
intensely  that  I  could  scarcely  listen  to  the  lectures.  In 


300 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


\ 


the  same  year  I  entered  into  a  formal  love-relation  with  a 
merchant  of  thirty-four.  We  lived  as  man  and  wife.  X. 
played  the  man^  and  fell  more  and  more  in  love.  I  gave 
up  to  him,  but  now  and  then  I  had  to  play  the  man.  After 
a  time  I  grew  tired  of  him,  became  unfaithful  and  he 
grew  jealous.  There  were  terrible  scenes,  which  led  to 
temporary  separation,  and  finally  to  actual  rupture.  (The 
merchant  afterwards  became  insane,  and  died  by  suicide.) 

^^I  made  many  acquaintances,  and  loved  the  most  or- 
dinary people.  I  preferred  those  having  a  full  beard, 
who  were  tall  and  of  middle  age,  and  able  to  play  the  active 
role  well.  I  developed  a  proctitis.  The  professor  thought 
it  was  the  result  of  sitting  too  much  while  preparing  for 
examinations.  I  developed  a  fistula,  and  had  to  undergo 
an  operation ;  but  this  did  not  cure  me  of  my  desire  to  let 
myself  be  used  passively.  I  became  a  physician  and  went 
to  a  provincial  town,  where  I  had  to  live  like  a  nun.  I 
developed  a  desire  to  move  in  ladies'  society,  and  was 
gladly  w^elcomed  there;  because  it  was  found  that  I  was 
not  so  one-sided  as  most  men,  and  was  interested  in 
toilettes  and  such  feminine  things.  However,  I  felt  very 
unhappy  and  lonesome.  Fortunately,  in  this  town,  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  man,  a  ^sister,'  who  felt  like  me. 
For  some  time  I  was  taken  care  of  by  him.  When  he 
had  to  leave  I  had  an  attack  of  despair,  with  depression, 
which  was  accompanied  by  thoughts  of  suicide. 

"When  it  became  impossible  for  me  to  longer  endure 
the  town,  I  became  a  military  surgeon  in  the  capital. 
There  I  began  to  live  again,  and  often  made  two  or  three 
acquaintances  in  one  day.  I  had  never  loved  boys  or 
young  people ;  only  fully  developed  men.  The  thought  of 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  police  was  frightful.  Thus 
far  I  have  escaped  the  clutches  of  the  blackmailer.  At  the 
same  time,  I  could  not  keep  myself  from  the  gratification 
of  my  impulse.  After  some  months  I  fell  in  love  with  an 
official  of  forty.  I  remained  true  to  him  for  a  year,  and 
we  lived  like  a  pair  of  lovers.  I  was  the  wife  and  was 
formally  courted  by  the  lover.    One  day  I  was  transferred 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


301 


to  a  small  town.  We  were  in  despair.  The  last  night  was 
spent  in  continually  kissing  and  caressing  one  another. 

^^In  T.  I  was  unspeakably  unhappy,  in  spite  of  some 
^sisters'  whom  I  found.  I  could  not  forget  my  lover.  In 
order  to  satisfy  my  sexual  desire,  which  cried  for  satis- 
faction, I  chose  soldiers.  Money  obtained  men;  but  they 
remained  cold,  and  I  had  no  enjoyment  with  them.  I 
was  successful  in  being  retransferred  to  the  capital,  where 
there  was  a  new  love  relation,  but  much  jealousy;  because 
my  lover  liked  to  go  into  the  society  of  ^sisters,'  and  was 
proud  and  coquettish.  There  was  a  rupture.  I  w^as  very 
unhappy  and  very  glad  to  be  transferred  from  the  capital. 
I  now  stayed  in  C,  alone  and  in  despair.  Two  infantry 
privates  were  brought  into  service,  but  with  the  same 
unsatisfactory  results.  When  shall  I  ever  find  true  love 
again  ? 

^'I  am  over  medium  height,  well  developed,  and  look 
somewhat  aged;  and,  therefore,  when  I  wish  to  make 
conquests  I  use  the  arts  of  the  toilet.  My  manner,  move- 
ments and  face  are  masculine.  Physically  I  feel  as  youth- 
ful as  a  boy  of  twenty.  I  love  the  theatre,  and  especially 
art.  My  interest  in  the  stage  is  in  the  actresses,  whose 
every  movement  and  gesture  I  notice  and  criticise. 

^^In  the  society  of  gentlemen  I  am  silent  and  em- 
barrassed, while  in  the  society  of  those  like  myself  I  am 
free,  witty,  and  as  fawning  as  a  cat  if  a  man  is  sympathetic. 
If  I  am  without  love,  I  become  deeply  melancholic;  but 
the  favours  of  the  first  handsome  man  dispel  my  depres- 
sion. In  other  ways  I  am  frivolous  and  very  ambitious. 
My  profession  is  nothing  to  me.  Masculine  pursuits  do 
not  interest  me.  I  prefer  novels  and  going  to  the  theatre. 
I  am  effeminate,  sensitive,  easily  moved,  easily  injured 
and  nervous.  A  sudden  noise  makes  my  whole  body  trem- 
ble, and  I  have  to  collect  myself  in  order  to  keep  from 
crying  out.'^ 

Remarks:  The  foregoing  case  is  certainly  one  of  ac- 
quired antipathic  sexual  instinct,  since  the  sexual  instinct 


302 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


and  impulse  were  originally  directed  toward  the  female 
sex.    Sch.  became  neurasthenic  through  masturbation. 

As  an  accompanying  manifestation  of  the  neurasthenic 
neurosis,  lessened  impressionability  of  the  erection-centre 
and  consequent  relative  impotence  developed.  As  a  result 
of  this,  sexual  sensibility  toward  the  opposite  sex  de- 
creased, with  simultaneous  persistence  of  libido  sexualis. 
The  acquired  antipathic  sexual  instinct  must  be  abnormal, 
since  the  first  touch  by  a  person  of  the  same  sex  is  an 
adequate  stimulus  for  the  erection-centre.  The  perverse 
sexual  feeling  becomes  complete. — At  first  Sch.  felt  like  a 
man  in  the  sexual  act;  but  more  and  more,  as  the  change 
progressed,  the  feeling  and  desire  of  satisfaction  changed 
to  the  form  which,  as  a  rule,  characterises  the  (congenital) 
urning. 

This  eviration  induces  a  desire  for  the  passive  role, 
and,  further,  for  (passive)  pederasty.  It  makes  a  deeper 
impress  on  the  character.  The  character  becomes  femi- 
nine, inasmuch  as  Sch.  now  prefers  to  move  in  the  society 
of  actual  females,  has  an  increasing  desire  for  feminine 
occupations,  and  indeed  makes  use  of  the  arts  of  the  toilet 
in  order  to  improve  his  fading  charms  and  make  ^^con- 
quests". 

The  foregoing  facts  concerning  acquired  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  and  effemination  find  an  interesting  con- 
firmation in  the  following  ethnological  data: — 

Herodotus  already  describes  a  peculiar  disease  which 
frequently  affected  the  Scythians.  The  disease  consisted 
in  this:  that  men  became  effeminate  in  character,  put 
on  female  garments,  did  the  work  of  women,  and  even 
became  effeminate  in  appearance.  As  an  explanation  of 
this  insanity  of  the  Scythians,^  Herodotus  relates  the  myth 

^Cf.  Sprengel,  "Apologie  des  Hippokrates,"  Leipzig,  1792,  p.  611; 
Friedreich,  "  Literargeschichte  der  psych.  Krankheiten,"  1830,  p. 
31;  Lallemand,  "Des  pertes  s^minales,"  Paris,  1836,  i.,  p.  581;  Nysten, 
"  Pictionn.  de  mMecine/'  xi.  6dit.,  Paris,  1858,  Art.  "  Eviration  et 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELIKG  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


303 


that  the  goddess  Venus,  angered  by  the  plundering  of  the 
temple  at  Ascalon  by  the  Scythians,  had  made  women  of 
these  plunderers  and  their  posterity. 

Hippocrates^  not  believing  in  supernatural  diseases,  re- 
cognised that  impotence  was  here  a  causative  factor,  and 
explained  it,  though  incorrectly,  as  due  to  the  custom  of 
the  Scythians  to  have  themselves  bled  behind  the  ears  in 
order  to  cure  disease  superinduced  by  constant  horse-back 
riding.  He  thought  that  these  veins  were  of  great  import- 
ance in  the  preservation  of  the  sexual  powers,  and  that 
when  they  were  severed,  impotence  was  induced.  Since 
the  Scythians  considered  their  impotence  due  to  divine 
punishment  and  incurable,  they  put  on  the  clothing  of 
females,  and  lived  as  women  among  women. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  according  to  Klaproth  (^^Reise 
in  dem  Kaukasus,"  Berlin,  1812,  v.,  p.  285)  and  Chotom- 
ski,  even  at  the  present  time  impotence  is  very  frequent 
among  the  Tartars,  as  a  result  of  riding  unsaddled  horses. 
The  same  is  observed  among  the  Apaches  and  ITavajos 
of  the  western  continent  who  ride  excessively,  scarcely 
ever  going  on  foot,  and  are  remarkable  for  small  genitals 
and  mild  libido  and  virility.  Sprengel,  Lallemand  and 
Nysten  recognise  the  fact  that  excessive  riding  may  be 
injurious  to  the  sexual  organs. 

Hammond  reports  analogous  observations  of  great  in- 
terest concerning  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico. 
These  descendants  of  the  Aztecs  cultivate  so-called  ^^mu- 
jerados,"  of  which  every  Pueblo  tribe  requires  one  in  the 
religious  ceremonies  (actual  orgies  in  the  spring),  in  which 
pederasty  plays  an  important  part.  In  order  to  cultivate 
a  "mujerado,"  a  very  powerful  man  is  chosen,  and  he 
is  made  to  masturbate  excessively  and  ride  constantly. 
Gradually  such  irritable  weakness  of  the  genital  organs  is 
engendered  that,  in  riding,  great  loss  of  semen  is  induced. 
This  condition  of  irritability  passes  into  paralytic  im- 

Maladie  des  Scythes";  Marandon,  "  De  la  maladie  des  Scythes"; 
"Annal.  m^dico-psychoL,"  1877,  Mars,  p.  161;  Hammond,  "American 
Journal  of  Neurology  and  Psychiatry,"  August,  1882. 


304 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SSXUALIS. 


potence.  Then  atrophy  of  the  testicles  and  penis  sets  in, 
the  hair  of  the  beard  falls  out,  the  voice  loses  its  depth 
and  compass,  and  physical  strength  and  energy  decrease. 
Inclinations  and  disposition  become  feminine.  The  "mu- 
jerado"  loses  his  position  in  society  as  a  man.  He  takes 
on  feminine  manners  and  customs^  and  associates  with 
women.  Yet,  for  religious  reasons,  he  is  held  in  honour. 
It  is  probable  that,  at  other  times  than  during  the  festivals 
he  is  used  by  the  chiefs  for  pederasty.  Hammond  had 
an  opportunity  to  examine  two  ^^mujerados''.  One  had  be- 
come such  seven  years  before,  and  was  thirty-five  years 
old  at  the  time.  Seven  years  previous,  he  was  entirely 
masculine  and  potent.  He  had  noticed  gradual  atrophy 
of  the  testicles  and  penis.  At  the  same  time  he  lost  libido 
and  the  power  of  erection.  He  differed  in  nowise,  in 
dress  and  manner,  from  the  women  among  whom  Ham- 
mond found  him.  The  genital  hair  was  wanting,  the 
penis  was  shrunken,  the  scrotum  lax  and  pendulous,  and 
the  testicles  were  very  much  atrophied  and  no  longer 
sensitive  to  pressure.  The  ^^mujerado"  had  large  mammm 
like  a  pregnant  woman,  and  asserted  that  he  had  nursed 
several  children  whose  mothers  had  died.  A  second  "mu- 
jerado,''  aged  thirty-six,  after  he  had  been  ten  years  in 
the  condition,  presented  the  same  peculiarities,  though 
with  less  development  of  mammce.  Like  the  first,  the 
voice  was  high  and  thin.    The  body  was  plump. 

III.  Degree:  Stage  of  Transition  to  Metamorphosis  Sex- 
ualis  Paranoia. 

A  further  degree  of  development  is  represented  by 
those  cases  in  which  physical  sensation  is  also  transformed 
in  the  sense  of  a  transmutatio  sexus.  In  this  respect  the 
following  case  is  unique : — 

Case  129.  Autobiography.  "Born  in  Hungary  in 
1844,  for  many  years  I  was  the  only  child  of  my  parents; 
for  the  other  children  died  for  the  most  part  of  general 
weakness.   A  brother  of  later  birth  is  still  living. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


305 


"I  come  of  a  family  in  which  nervous  and  mental 
diseases  have  been  numerous.  It  is  said  that  I  was  very 
pretty  as  a  little  child,  with  blonde  locks  and  transparent 
skin ;  very  obedient,  quiet  and  modest,  so  that  I  was  taken 
everywhere  in  the  society  of  ladies  without  any  offence  on 
my  part. 

"With  a  very  active  imagination — my  enemy  through 
life — my  talents  developed  rapidly.  I  could  read  and  write 
at  the  age  of  four;  my  memory  reaches  back  to  my  third 
year.  I  played  with  everything  that  fell  into  my  hands, — 
with  leaden  soldiers,  or  stones,  or  ribbons  from  a  toy-shop ; 
but  a  machine  for  working  in  wood,  that  was  given  to  me 
as  a  present,  I  did  not  like.  I  liked  best  to  be  at  home 
with  my  mother,  who  was  everything  to  me.  I  had  two 
or  three  friends  with  whom  I  got  on  good-naturedly;  but 
I  liked  to  play  with  her  sisters  quite  as  well,  who  always 
treated  me  like  a  girl,  which  at  first  did  not  embarrass  me. 
I  must  have  already  been  on  the  road  to  become  just  like 
a  girl;  at  least,  I  can  still  well  remember  how  it  was 
always  said:  ^He  is  not  intended  for  a  boy.^  At  this  I 
tried  to  play  the  boy, — imitated  my  companions  in  every- 
thing, and  tried  to  surpass  them  in  wildness.  In  this  I 
succeeded.  There  was  no  tree  or  building  too  high  for 
me  to  reach  its  top.  I  took  great  delight  in  soldiers.  I 
avoided  girls  more,  because  I  did  not  wish  to  play  with 
their  playthings;  and  it  always  annoyed  me  that  they 
treated  me  so  much  like  one  of  themselves. 

"In  the  society  of  mature  people,  however,  I  was 
always  modest,  and,  also,  always  regarded  with  favour. 
Fantastic  dreams  about  wild  animals — which  once  drove 
me  out  of  bed  without  waking  me — frequently  troubled 
me.  I  was  always  very  simple  but  very  elegantly  dressed, 
and  thus  developed  a  taste  for  beautiful  clothing.  It  seems 
peculiar  to  me  that,  from  the  time  of  my  school-days,  I 
had  a  partiality  for  ladies'  gloves,  which  I  put  on  secretly 
as  often  as  I  could.  Thus,  when  once  my  mother  was 
about  to  give  away  a  pair  of  gloves,  I  made  great  opposi- 
tion to  it,  and  told  her,  when  she  asked  why  I  acted  so, 

20 


306 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


that  I  wanted  them  myself.  I  was  laughed  at;  and  from 
that  time  I  took  good  care  not  to  display  my  preference 
for  female  things.  Yet  my  delight  in  them  was  very  great. 
I  took  especial  pleasure  in  masquerade  costumes — i,e,j,  only 
in  female  attire.  If  I  saw  them,  I  envied  their  owners. 
What  seemed  to  me  the  prettiest  sight  was:  two  young 
men,  beautifully  dressed  as  white  ladies,  with  masks  on; 
and  yet  I  would  not  have  shown  myself  to  others  as  a  girl 
for  anything ;  I  was  so  afraid  of  being  ridiculed.  At  school 
I  worked  very  hard,  and  was  always  among  the  first. 
From  childhood  my  parents  taught  me  that  duty  came 
first;  and  they  always  set  me  an  example.  It  was  also  a 
pleasure  for  me  to  attend  school;  for  the  teachers  were 
kind,  and  the  elder  pu:pils  did  not  plague  the  younger  ones. 
We  left  my  first  home;  for  my  father  was  compelled,  on 
account  of  his  business, — which  was  dear  to  him, — to  sepa- 
rate from  his  family  for  a  year.  We  moved  to  Germany. 
Here  there  was  a  stricter,  rougher  manner,  partly  in 
teachers  and  partly  in  pupils;  and  I  was  again  ridiculed 
on  account  of  my  girlishness.  My  schoolmates  went  so 
far  as  to  give  a  girl,  who  had  exactly  my  features,  my 
name,  and  me  hers;  so  that  I  hated  the  girl.  But  I  later 
came  to  be  on  terms  of  friendship  with  her  after  her 
marriage.  My  mother  tried  to  dress  me  elegantly;  but 
this  was  repugnant  to  me,  because  it  made  me  the 
object  of  taunting.  So,  finally,  I  was  delighted  when  1 
had  correct  trousers  and  coats.  But  with  these  came  a 
new  annoyance.  They  irritated  my  genitals,  particularly 
when  the  cloth  was  rough;  and  the  touch  of  tailors  while 
measuring  me,  on  accoimt  of  their  tickling,  which  almost 
convulsed  me,  was  unendurable,  particularly  about  the 
genitals.  Then  I  had  to  practise  gymnastics;  and  I 
simply  could  do  nothing  at  all,  or  only  indifferently  the 
things  that  even  girls  can  do  easily.  While  bathing  I  was 
troubled  by  feeling  ashamed  to  undress;  but  I  liked  to 
bathe.  Until  my  twelfth  year  I  had  a  great  weakness  in 
my  back.  I  learned  to  swim  late,  but  ultimately  so  well 
that  I  took  long  swims.   At  thirteen  I  had  pubic  hair,  and 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  307 

was  about  six  feet  tall;  but  my  face  was  feminine  until 
my  eighteenth  year,  when  my  beard  came  in  abundance 
and  gave  me  rest  from  resemblance  to  woman.  An 
inguinal  hernia  that  was  acquired  in  my  twelfth  year, 
and  cured  when  I  was  twenty,  gave  me  much  trouble, 
particularly  in  gymnastics.  Besides,  from  my  twelfth 
year  on,  I  had,  after  sitting  long,  and  particularly  while 
working  at  night,  an  itching,  burning  and  twitching, 
extending  from  the  penis  to  my  back,  which  the  acts  of 
sitting  and  standing  increased,  and  which  was  made 
worse  by  catching  cold.  But  I  had  no  suspicion  what- 
ever that  this  could  be  connected  Avith  the  genitals.  Since 
none  of  my  friends  suffered  in  this  way,  it  seemed  strange 
to  me ;  and  it  required  the  greatest  patience  to  endure  it ; 
the  more  owing  to  the  fact  that  my  abdomen  troubled  me. 

^^In  sexualibus  I  was  still  perfectly  innocent;  but  now, 
as  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  I  had  a  definite  feeling 
of  preferring  to  be  a  young  lady.  A  young  lady's  form 
was  more  pleasing  to  me;  her  quiet  manner,  her  deport- 
ment, but  particularly  her  attire,  attracted  me.  But  I  was 
careful  not  to  allow  this  to  be  noticed;  and  yet  I  am  sure 
that  I  should  not  have  shrunk  from  the  castration-knife, 
could  I  have  thus  attained  my  desire.  If  I  had  been  asked 
to  say  v/hy  I  preferred  female  attire,  I  could  have  said 
nothing  more  than  that  it  attracted  me  powerfully;  per- 
haps, also,  I  seemed  to  myself,  on  account  of  my  uncom- 
monly white  skin,  more  like  that  of  a  girl.  The  skin 
of  my  face  and  hands,  particularly,  was  very  sensitive. 
Girls  liked  my  society;  and,  though  I  should  have  pre- 
ferred to  have  been  with  them  constantly,  I  avoided  them 
when  I  could;  for  I  had  to  exaggerate  in  order  not  to  ap- 
pear feminine.  In  my  heart  I  always  envied  them.  I  was 
particularly  envious  when  one  of  my  young  girl  friends  got 
long  dresses  and  wore  gloves  and  veils.  When,  at  the  age 
of  fifteen,  I  was  on  a  journey,  a  young  lady,  with  whom  I 
was  boarding,  proposed  that  I  should  mask  as  a  lady  and  go 
out  with  her ;  but,  owing  to  the  fact  that  she  was  not  alone, 
I  did  not  acquiesce,  much  as  I  should  have  liked  it.  While 


308 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


on  this  journey,  I  was  pleased  at  seeing  boys  in  one  city 
wearing  blouses  with  short  sleeves,  and  the  arms  bare.  A 
lady  elaborately  dressed  was  like  a  goddess  to  me ;  and  if 
even  her  hand  touched  me  coldly  I  was  happy  and  envi- 
ous, and  only  too  gladly  would  have  put  myself  in  her 
place  in  the  beautiful  garments  and  lovely  form.  Never- 
theless, I  studied  assiduously,  and  passed  through  the 
Eealschule  and  the  Gymnasium  in  nine  years,  passing  a 
good  final  examination.  I  remember,  when  fifteen,  to  have 
first  expressed  to  a  friend  the  wish  to  be  a  girl.  In  answer 
to  his  question,  I  could  not  give  the  reason  why.  At 
seventeen  I  got  into  fast  society;  I  drank  beer,  smoked, 
and  tried  to  joke  with  waiter-girls.  The  latter  liked  my 
society,  but  they  always  treated  me  as  if  I  wore  petti- 
coats. I  could  not  take  dancing  lessons,  they  repelled  me 
so ;  but  if  I  could  have  gone  as  a  mask,  it  would  have  been 
different.  My  friends  loved  me  dearly ;  I  hated  only  one, 
who  seduced  me  into  onanism.  Shame  on  those  days, 
which  injured  me  for  life !  I  practised  it  quite  frequently, 
but  in  it  seemed  to  myself  like  a  double  man.  I  cannot 
describe  the  feeling;  I  think  it  was  masculine,  but  mixed 
with  feminine  elements.  I  could  not  approach  girls;  I 
feared  them,  but  they  were  not  strange  to  me.  They  im- 
pressed me  as  being  more  like  myself;  I  envied  them.  I 
would  have  denied  myself  all  pleasures  if,  after  my  classes, 
at  home  I  could  have  been  a  girl  and  thus  have  gone  out. 
Crinoline  and  a  smoothly-fitting  glove  were  my  ideals. 
With  every  lady's  gown  I  saw  I  fancied  how  I  should  feel 
in  it, — i.e.,  as  a  lady.  I  had  no  inclination  toward  men. 
But  I  remember  that  I  was  somewhat  lovingly  attached 
to  a  very  handsome  friend  with  a  girFs  face  and  dark  hair, 
though  I  think  I  had  no  other  wish  than  that  we  both 
might  be  girls. 

"At  the  high-school  I  finally  once  had  coitus;  hoc 
modo  sensi,  me  libentius  sub  puella  concubuisse  et  penem 
meum  cum  cunno  mutatum  maluisse.  To  her  astonish- 
ment, the  girl  had  to  treat  me  as  a  girl,  and  did  it  will- 
ingly; but  she  treated  me  as  if  I  were  she  (she  was  sti]|. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  309 

quite  inexperienced,  and,  therefore,  did  not  laugh  at 
me). 

"When  a  student  at  times  I  was  wild,  but  I  always 
felt  that  I  assumed  this  wildness  as  a  mask.  I  drank  and 
duelled,  but  I  could  not  take  lessons  in  dancing,  because 
I  was  afraid  of  betraying  myself.  My  friendships  were 
close,  but  without  other  thoughts.  It  pleased  me  most 
to  have  a  friend  masked  as  a  lady,  or  to  study  the  ladies' 
costumes  at  a  ball.  I  understood  such  things  perfectly. 
Gradually  I  began  to  feel  like  a  girl. 

"On  account  of  unhappy  circumstances,  I  twice  at- 
tempted suicide.  Without  any  cause  I  once  did  not  sleep 
for  fourteen  days,  had  many  hallucinations  (visual  and 
auditory  at  the  same  time),  and  was  with  both  the  living 
and  the  dead.  The  latter  habit  of  thought  remains.  I 
also  had  a  friend  (a  lady)  who  knew  my  hobby  and  put 
on  my  gloves  for  me;  but  she  always  looked  upon  me 
as  a  girl.  Thus  I  understood  women  better  than  other 
men  did,  and  in  what  they  differed  from  men;  so  I  was 
always  treated  more  feminarum — as  if  they  had  found  in 
me  a  female  friend.  On  the  whole,  I  could  not  endure 
obscenity,  and  indulged  in  it  myself  only  out  of  bragga- 
docio when  it  was  necessary.  I  soon  overcame  my  aversion 
to  foul  odours  and  blood,  and  even  liked  them.  Only  some 
things  I  could  not  look  at  without  nausea.  I  was  want- 
ing in  only  one  respect:  I  could  not  understand  my  own 
condition.  I  knew  that  I  had  feminine  inclinations,  but 
believed  that  I  was  a  man.  Yet  I  doubt  whether,  with 
the  exception  of  the  attempts  at  coitus,  which  never  gave 
me  pleasure  (which  I  ascribe  to  onanism),  I  ever  admired 
a  woman  without  wishing  I  were  she;  or  without  asking 
myself  whether  I  should  not  like  to  be  the  woman,  or 
be  in  her  attire.  Obstetrics  I  learned  with  difficulty  (I 
was  ashamed  for  the  exposed  girls,  and  had  a  feeling 
of  pity  for  them)  ;  and  even  now  I  have  to  overcome 
a  feeling  of  fright  in  obstetrical  cases;  indeed,  it  has 
happened  that  I  thought  I  felt  the  traction  myself. 
After  filling  several  positions  successfully  as  a  physician. 


310 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


I  went  through  a  military  campaign  as  a  volunteer 
surgeon.  Riding,  which,  while  a  student,  was  painful  to 
me,  because  in  it  the  genitals  had  more  of  a  feminine 
feeling,  was  difficult  for  me  (it  would  have  been  easier 
in  the  female  style). 

^^Still,  I  always  thought  I  was  a  man  with  obscure 
masculine  feeling;  and  whenever  I  associated  with  ladies, 
I  was  still  soon  treated  as  an  inexperienced  lady.  When 
I  wore  a  uniform  for  the  first  time,  I  should  have  much 
preferred  to  have  slipped  into  a  lady's  costume,  with  a 
veil;  I  was  disturbed  when  the  stately  uniform  attracted 
attention.  In  private  practice  I  was  successful  in  the 
three  principal  branches.  Then  I  made  another  military 
campaign;  and  during  this  I  came  to  understand  my 
nature;  for  I  think  that^  since  the  first  ass  ever  made, 
no  beast  of  burden  has  ever  had  to  endure  with  so  much 
patience  as  I  have.  Decorations  were  not  wanting,  but 
I  was  indifferent  to  them. 

^^Thus  I  went  through  life,  such  as  it  was,  never  satis- 
fied with  myself,  full  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  world, 
and  vacillating  between  sentimentality  and  a  wildness 
that  was  for  the  most  part  affected. 

^^My  experience  as  a  candidate  for  matrimony  was 
very  peculiar.  I  should  have  preferred  not  to  marry,  but 
family  circumstances  and  practice  forced  me  to  it.  I 
married  an  energetic,  amiable  lady,  of  a  family  in  which 
female  government  was  rampant.  I  was  in  love  with  her 
as  much  as  one  of  us  can  be  in  love — i.e.^  what  we  love 
w^e  love  with  our  whole  hearts,  and  live  in  it,  even  though 
we  do  not  show  it  as  much  as  a  genuine  man  does.  We 
love  our  brides  with  all  the  love  of  a  woman,  almost  as 
a  woman  might  love  her  bridegroom.  But  I  cannot  say 
this  for  myself;  for  I  still  believed  that  I  was  but  a 
depressed  man,  who  would  come  to  himself,  and  find  him- 
self out  by  marriage.  But,  even  on  my  marriage  night,  I 
felt  that  I  was  only  a  woman  in  man's  form;  sub  femina 
locum  meum  esse  mihi  visum  est.  On  the  whole,  we 
lived  contented  and  happy,  and  fcr  t^o  years  were  child- 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IIST  BOTH  SEXES.  311 

less.  After  a  difficult  pregnancy,  during  wliicli  time  I 
lay  at  the  point  of  death  in  the  enemy's  own  country,  my 
wife  gave  birth  to  our  first  boy  in  a  difficult  labour, — a 
boy  still  afflicted  with  a  melancholy  nature.  Then  came 
a  second,  who  is  very  quiet ;  a  third,  full  of  peculiarities ; 
a  fourth,  a  fifth ;  and  all  have  the  predisposition  to  neuras- 
thenia. Since  I  always  felt  out  of  my  own  place,  I  went 
much  in  gay  society;  but  I  always  worked  as  much  as 
human  strength  would  endure.  I  stu.died  and  operated; 
and  I  experimented  with  many  drugs  and  methods  of 
cure,  always  on  myself.  I  left  the  regulation  of  the  house 
to  my  wife,  as  she  understood  housekeeping  very  well. 
My  marital  duties  I  performed  as  well  as  I  could,  but 
without  personal  satisfaction.  Since  the  first  coitus,  the 
masculine  position  in  it  has  been  repugnant,  and  also 
difficult  for  me.  I  should  have  much  preferred  to  have 
the  other  role.  When  I  had  to  deliver  my  wife,  it  almost 
broke  my  heart;  for  I  knew  how  to  appreciate  her  pain. 
Thus  we  lived  long  together,  until  severe  gout  drove  me 
to  various  baths,  and  made  me  neurasthenic.  At  the 
same  time,  I  became  so  anaemic  that  every  few  months  I 
had  to  take  iron  for  some  time;  otherwise  I  would  be 
almost  chlorotic  or  hysterical,  or  both.  Stenocardia  often 
troubled  me;  then  came  unilateral  cramps  of  chin,  nose, 
neck  and  larynx;  hemicrania  and  cramps  of  the  dia- 
phragm and  chest  muscles.  For  about  three  years  I  had 
a  feeling  as  if  the  prostate  were  enlarged, — a  bearing-down 
feeling,  as  if  giving  birth  to  something;  and  also  pain  in 
the  hips,  constant  pain  in  the  back,  and  the  like.  Yet, 
with  the  strength  of  despair,  I  fought  against  these  com- 
plaints, which  impressed  me  as  being  female  or  effeminate, 
until  three  years  ago,  when  a  severe  attack  of  arthritis 
completely  broke  me  down. 

^^But  before  this  terrible  attack  of  gout  occurred,  in 
despair,  to  lessen  the  pain  of  gout,  I  had  taken  hot  baths, 
as  near  the  temperature  of  the  body  as  possible.  On  one 
of  these  occasions  it  happened  that  I  suddenly  changed, 
and  seemed  to  be  near  death.     I  sprang  with   all  my 


312 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


remaining  strength  out  of  the  bath ;  I  had  felt  exactly  like 
a  woman  with  libido.  This  happened  when  the  extract 
of  Indian  hemp  came  into  vogue,  and  was  highly  prized. 
In  a  state  of  fear  of  a  threatened  attack  of  gout  (feeling 
perfectly  indifferent  about  life),  I  took  three  or  four  times 
the  usual  dose  of  it,  and  almost  died  of  hashish  poison- 
ing. Convulsive  laughter,  a  feeling  of  unheard  of  strength 
and  swiftness,  a  peculiar  feeling  in  brain  and  eyes,  millions 
of  sparks  streaming  from  the  brain  through  the  skin, — all 
these  feelings  occurred.  But  I  could  not  force  myself  to 
speak.  All  at  once  I  saw  myself  a  woman  from  my  toes 
to  my  breast;  I  felt,  as  before  while  in  the  bath,  that  the 
genitals  had  shrunken,  the  pelvis  broadened,  the  breasts 
swollen  out;  a  feeling  of  unspeakable  delight  came  over 
me.  I  closed  my  eyes,  so  that  at  least  I  did  not  see  the 
face  changed.  My  physician  looked  as  if  he  had  a  gigantic 
potato  instead  of  a  head;  my  wife  had  the  full  moon  on 
her  thorax.  And  yet,  I  was  strong  enough  to  briefly 
record  my  will  in  my  note-book  when  both  left  the  room 
for  a  short  time. 

^^But  who  could  describe  my  fright  when,  on  the  next 
morning,  I  awoke  and  found  myself  feeling  as  if  com- 
pletely changed  into  a  woman;  and  when,  on  standing 
and  walking,  I  felt  vulva  and  mammce!  When  at  last  I 
raised  myself  out  of  bed,  I  felt  that  a  complete  trans- 
formation had  taken  place  in  me.  During  my  illness  a 
visitor  said:  ^He  is  too  patient  for  a  man'.  And  the 
visitor  gave  me  a  plant  in  bloom,  which  seemed  strange, 
but  pleased  me.  From  that  time  I  was  patient,  and 
would  do  nothing  in  a  hurry;  but  I  became  tenacious, 
like  a  cat,  though,  at  the  same  time,  mild,  forgiving  and 
no  longer  bearing  enmity, — in  short,  I  had  a  woman's 
disposition.  During  the  last  sickness  I  had  many  visual 
and  auditory  hallucinations, — spoke  with  the  dead,  etc. ; 
saw  and  heard  familiar  spirits ;  felt  like  a  double  person ; 
but,  while  lying  ill,  I  did  not  notice  that  the  man  in  me  had 
been  extinguished.  The  change  in  my  disposition  was  a 
piece  of  good  fortune,  for  I  had  a  stroke  of  paralysis  which 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  313 

would  certainly  have  killed  me  had  I  been  of  my  former 
disposition;  but  now  I  was  reconciled,  for  I  no  longer 
recognized  myself.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  I  still  often 
confounded  neurasthenic  symptoms  with  the  gout,  I  took 
many  baths,  until  an  itching  of  the  skin,  with  the  feeling 
of  scabies,  instead  of  being  diminished,  was  so  increased 
that  I  gave  up  all  external  treatment  (I  was  made  more 
and  more  anaemic  by  the  baths),  and  hardened  myself  as 
best  I  could.  But  the  imperative  female  feeling  remained, 
and  became  so  strong  that  I  wear  only  the  mask  of  a  man, 
and  in  everything  else  feel  like  a  woman ;  and  gradually  I 
have  lost  memory  of  the  former  individuality.  What  was 
left  of  me  by  the  gout,  influenza  ruined  entirely. 

"Present  condition:  I  am  tall,  slightly  bald,  and  the 
beard  is  growing  gray.  I  begin  to  stoop.  Since  having 
influenza  I  have  lost  about  one-fourth  of  my  strength. 
Owing  to  a  valvular  lesion,  my  face  looks  somewhat  red; 
full  beard;  chronic  conjunctivitis;  more  muscular  than 
fat.  The  left  foot  seems  to  be  developing  varicose  veins, 
and  it  often  goes  to  sleep;  but  it  is  not  really  thickened, 
though  it  seems  to  be. 

"The  mammary  region,  though  small,  swells  out  per- 
ceptibly. The  abdomen  is  feminine  in  form;  the  feet  are 
placed  like  a  woman's,  and  the  calves,  etc.,  are  feminine; 
and  it  is  the  same  with  arms  and  hands.  I  can  wear  ladies' 
hose  and  gloves  7/^  to  7^  in  size.  I  also  wear  a  corset 
without  annoyance.  My  weight  varies  between  168  and 
184  pounds.  Urine  without  albumen  or  sugar,  but  it  con- 
tains an  excess  of  uric  acid.  But  when  there  is  not  too 
much  uric  acid  in  it,  it  is  clear,  and  almost  as  clear  as  water 
after  any  excitement.  Bowels  usually  regular,  but  should 
they  not  be,  then  come  all  the  symptoms  of  female  consti- 
pation. Sleep  is  poor, — for  weeks  at  a  time  only  of  two 
or  three  hours'  duration.  Appetite  quite  good;  but,  on 
the  whole,  my  stomach  will  not  bear  more  than  that  of  a 
strong  woman,  and  reacts  to  irritating  food  with  cutaneous 
eruption  and  burning  in  the  urethra.  The  skin  is  white, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  feels  quite  smooth ;  there  has  been 


314 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


unbearable  cutaneous  itching  for  the  last  two  years;  but 
during  the  last  few  weeks  this  has  diminished^  and  is  now 
present  only  in  the  popliteal  spaces  and  on  the  scrotum. 

^^Tendency  to  perspire.  Perspiration  was  previously 
as  good  as  wanting,  but  now  there  are  all  the  odious  pecu- 
liarities of  the  female  perspiration,  particularly  about 
the  lower  part  of  the  body;  so  that  I  have  to  keep  myself 
cleaner  than  a  woman  (I  perfume  my  handkerchief,  and 
use  perfumed  soap  and  eau-de-Cologne). 

''General  feeling:  I  feel  like  a  woman  in  a  man's  form ; 
and  even  though  I  often  am  sensible  of  the  man's  form, 
yet  it  is  always  in  a  feminine  sense.  Thus,  for  example, 
I  feel  the  penis  as  clitoris;  the  urethra  as  urethra  and 
vaginal  orifice,  which  always  feels  a  little  wet,  even  when 
it  is  actually  dry ;  the  scrotum  as  lahia  majora;  in  short,  I 
always  feel  the  vulva.  And  all  that  that  means  one  alone 
can  know  who  feels  or  has  felt  so.  But  the  skin  all  over 
my  body  feels  feminine;  it  receives  all  impressions, 
whether  of  touch,  of  warmth,  or  whether  unfriendly,  as 
feminine,  and  I  have  the  sensations  of  a  woman.  I  cannot 
go  with  bare  hands,  as  both  heat  and  cold  trouble  me. 
When  the  time  is  past  when  we  men  are  permitted  to  carry 
sun-umbrellas,  I  have  to  endure  great  sensitiveness  of  the 
skin  of  my  face,  until  sun-umbrellas  can  again  be  used. 
On  awakening  in  the  morning,  I  am  confused  for  a  few 
moments,  as  if  I  were  seeking  for  myself ;  then  the  impera- 
tive feeling  of  being  a  woman  awakens.  I  feel  the  sense 
of  the  vulva  (that  one  is  there),  and  always  greet  the  day 
with  a  soft  or  loud  sigh ;  for  I  have  fear  again  of  the  play 
that  must  be  carried  on  throughout  the  day.  I  had  to 
learn  everything  anew;  the  knife — apparatus,  everything 
— has  felt  different  for  the  last  three  years;  and  with  the 
change  of  muscular  sense  I  had  to  learn  everything  over 
again.  I  have  been  successful,  and  only  the  use  of  the  saw 
and  bone-chisel  are  difficult ;  it  is  almost  as  if  my  strength 
were  not  quite  sufficient.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  a 
keener  sense  of  touch  in  working  with  the  curette  in  the 
soft  parts.     It  is  unpleasant  that,  in  examining  ladies,  I 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


315 


often  feel  their  sensations ;  but  this,  indeed,  does  not  repel 
them.  The  most  unpleasant  thing  I  experience  is  foetal 
movement.  For  a  long  time — several  months — I  was 
troubled  by  reading  the  thoughts  of  both  sexes,  and  I  still 
have  to  fight  against  it.  I  can  endure  it  better  with 
women;  with  men  it  is  repugnant.  Three  years  ago  I 
had  not  yet  consciously  seen  the  world  with  a  woman's 
eyes;  this  change  in  the  relation  of  the  eyes  to  the  brain 
came  almost  suddenly,  with  violent  headache.  I  was 
with  a  lady  whose  sexual  feeling  was  reversed,  when  sud- 
denly I  saw  her  changed  in  the  sense  I  now  feel  myself, — 
viz. J,  she  as  man, — and  I  felt  myself  a  woman  in  contrast, 
with  her;  so  that  I  left  her  with  ill-concealed  vexation. 
At  that  time  she  had  not  yet  come  to  understand  her  own 
condition  perfectly. 

^^Since  then,  all  my  sensory  impressions  are  as  if  they 
were  feminine  in  form  and  relation.  The  cerebral  system 
almost  immediately  adjusted  itself  to  the  vegetative;  so 
that  all  my  ailments  were  manifested  in  a  feminine  way. 
The  sensitiveness  of  all  nerves,  particularly  that  of  the 
auditory  and  olfactory  and  trigeminal,  increased  to  a  con- 
dition of  nervousness.  If  only  a  window  slammed,  I  was 
frightened  inwardly;  for  a  man  dare  not  tremble  at  such 
things.  If  food  is  not  absolutely  fresh,  I  perceive  a  cadav- 
erous odour.  I  could  never  depend  on  the  trigeminus; 
for  the  pain  would  jump  whimsically  from  one  branch  of 
it  to  another;  from  a  tooth  to  an  eye.  But,  since  my 
transformation,  I  bear  toothache  and  migraine  more  easily, 
and  have  less  feeling  of  fear  with  stenocardia.  It  seems 
to  me  a  strange  fact  that  I  feel  myself  to  be  a  fearful, 
weak  being,  and  yet,  when  danger  threatens,  I  am  rather 
cool  and  collected,  and  this  is  true  in  dangerous  opera- 
tions. The  stomach  rebels  against  the  slightest  indiscre- 
tion (in  female  diet)  that  is  committed  without  thought  of 
the  female  nature,  either  by  ructus  or  other  symptoms; 
but  particularly  against  abuse  of  alcoholics.  The  indis- 
position after  intoxication  that  a  man  who  feels  like  a 
woman  experiences  is  much  worse  than  any  a  student 


316 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


could  get  up.  It  seems  to  me  almost  as  if  one  feeling 
like  a  woman  were  entirely  controlled  by  the  vegetative 
system. 

"Small  as  my  nipples  are,  they  demand  room,  and  I 
feel  as  though  the  pelvis  were  female;  and  it  is  the  same 
puberty  the  nipples  swelled  and  pained.  On  this  account, 
the  white  shirt,  the  waistcoat  and  the  coat  trouble  me.  I 
feel  as  though  the  pelvis  were  female;  and  it  is  the  same 
with  the  anus  and  nates.  At  first  the  sense  of  a  female 
abdomen  was  troublesome  to  me;  for  it  cannot  bear 
trousers,  and  it  always  possesses  or  induces  the  feminine 
feeling.  I  also  have  the  imperative  feeling  of  a  waist.  It 
is  as  if  I  were  robbed  of  my  own  skin,  and  put  in  a  woman's 
skin  that  fitted  me  perfectly,  but  which  felt  everything  as  if 
it  covered  a  woman;  and  whose  sensations  passed  through 
the  man's  body,  and  exterminated  the  masculine  element. 
The  testes,  even  though  not  atrophied  or  degenerated,  are 
still  no  longer  testes,  and  often  cause  me  pain,  with  the 
feeling  that  they  belong  in  the  abdomen,  and  should  be 
fastened  there ;  and  their  mobility  often  bothers  me. 

"Every  four  weeks,  at  the  time  of  the  full  moon,  I 
have  the  molimen  of  a  woman  for  five  days,  physically  and 
mentally,  only  I  do  not  bleed;  but  I  have  the  feeling  of  a 
loss  of  fluid;  a  feeling  that  the  genitals  and  abdomen  are 
(internally)  swollen.  A  very  pleasant  period  comes  when, 
afterward  and  later  in  the  interval  of  a  day  or  two,  the 
physiological  desire  for  procreation  comes,  which  with  all 
power  permeates  the  woman.  My  whole  body  is  then  filled 
with  this  sensation,  as  an  immersed  piece  of  sugar  is  filled 
with  water,  or  as  full  as  a  soaked  sponge.  It  is  like  this ; 
first,  a  woman  longing  for  love,  and  then,  for  a  man ;  and, 
in  fact,  the  desire,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  more  a  longing  to 
be  possessed  than  a  wish  for  coitus.  The  intense  natural 
instinct  or  the  feminine  concupiscence  overcomes  the  feel- 
ing of  modesty,  so  that  indirectly  coitus  is  desired.  I  have 
never  felt  coitus  in  a  masculine  way  more  than  three  times 
in  my  life ;  and  even  if  it  were  so  in  general,  I  was  always 
indifferent  about  it.     But,  during  the  last  three  years,  I 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  3l7 

have  experienced  it  passively,  like  a  woman ;  in  fact,  often- 
times with  the  feeling  of  feminine  ejaculation;  and  I  al- 
ways feel  that  I  am  impregnated.  I  am  always  fatigued 
as  a  woman  is  after  it,  and  often  feel  ill,  as  a  man  never 
does.  Sometimes  it  caused  me  such  great  pleasure  that 
there  is  nothing  with  which  I  can  compare  it;  it  is  the 
most  blissful  and  powerful  feeling  in  the  world;  at  that 
moment  the  woman  is  simply  a  vulva  that  has  devoured  the 
whole  person. 

^^During  the  last  three  years  I  have  never  lost  for  an 
instant  the  feeling  of  being  a  woman,  and  now,  owing  to 
habit,  this  is  no  longer  annoying  to  me,  though  during 
this  period  I  have  felt  debased;  for  a  man  could  endure 
to  feel  like  a  woman  without  a  desire  for  enjoyment;  but 
when  desires  come,  the  happiness  ceases!  Then  come 
the  burning,  the  heat,  the  feeling  of  turgor  of  the  genitals 
(when  the  penis  is  not  in  a  state  of  erection  the  genitals 
do  not  play  any  part).  In  case  of  intense  desire,  the 
feeling  of  sucking  in  the  vagina  and  vulva  is  really  terrible 
— a  hellish  pain  of  lust  hardly  to  be  endured.  If  I  then 
have  opportunity  to  perform  coitus,  it  is  better;  but, 
owing  to  defective  sense  of  being  possessed  by  the  other, 
it  does  not  afford  complete  satisfaction ;  the  feeling  of  ster- 
ility comes  with  its  weight  of  shame,  added  to  the  feeling 
of  passive  copulation  and  injured  modesty.  I  seem  al- 
most like  a  prostitute.  Reason  does  not  give  any  help; 
the  imperative  feeling  of  femininity  dominates  and  rules 
everything.  The  difficulty  in  carrying  on  one's  occupa- 
tion, under  such  circumstances,  is  easily  appreciated;  but 
it  is  possible  to  force  one's  self  to  it.  Of  course,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  sit,  walk,  or  lie  down;  at  least,  any 
one  of  these  cannot  be  endured  long ;  and  with  the  constant 
touch  of  the  trousers,  etc.,  it  is  unendurable. 

"Marriage  then,  except  during  coitus,  where  the  man 
has  to  feel  himself  a  woman,  is  like  two  women  Kving 
together,  one  of  whom  regards  herself  as  in  the  mask  of 
a  man.  If  the  periodical  molimina  fail  to  occur,  then 
come  the  feelings  of  pregnancy  or  of  sexual  satiety,  which 


318 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


a  man  never  experiences,  but  which  take  possession  of  the 
whole  being,  just  as  the  feeling  of  femininity  does,  and  are 
repugnant  in  themselves ;  and,  therefore,  I  gladly  welcome 
the  regular  molimina  again.  When  erotic  dreams  or  ideas 
occur,  I  see  myself  in  the  form  I  have  as  a  woman,  and 
see  erected  organs  presenting.  Since  the  anus  feels  fem- 
inine, it  would  not  be  hard  to  become  a  passive  pederast ; 
only  positive  religious  command  prevents  it,  as  all  other 
deterrent  ideas  would  be  overcome.  Since  such  conditions 
are  repugnant,  as  they  would  be  to  any  one,  I  have  a 
desire  to  be  sexless,  or  to  make  myself  sexless.  If  I  had 
been  single,  I  should  long  ago  have  taken  leave  of  testes, 
scrotum  and  penis. 

^^Of  what  use  is  female  pleasure,  when  one  does  not 
conceive?  What  good  comes  from  excitation  of  female 
love,  when  one  has  only  a  wife  for  gratification,  even 
though  copulation  is  felt  as  though  it  were  with  a  man? 
What  a  terrible  feeling  of  shame  is  caused  by  the  feminine 
perspiration!  How  the  feeling  for  dress  and  ornament 
lowers  a  man !  Even  in  his  changed  form,  even  when  he 
can  no  longer  recall  the  masculine  sexual  feeling,  he  would 
not  wish  to  be  forced  to  feel  like  a  woman.  He  still 
knows  very  well  that,  heretofore,  he  did  not  constantly 
feel  sexually;  that  he  was  merely  a  human  being  unin- 
fluenced by  sex.  Now,  suddenly,  he  has  to  regard  his 
former  individuality  as  a  mask,  and  constantly  feel  like 
a  woman,  only  having  a  change  when,  every  four  weeks, 
he  has  his  periodical  sickness,  and  in  the  intervals  his 
insatiable  female  desire.  If  he  could  but  awake  without 
immediately  being  forced  to  feel  like  a  woman!  At  last 
he  longs  for  a  moment  in  which  he  might  raise  his  mask; 
but  that  moment  does  not  come.  He  can  only  find 
amelioration  of  his  misery  when  he  can  put  on  some  bit 
of  female  attire  or  finery,  an  imder-garment,  etc. ;  for  he 
dare  not  go  about  as  a  woman.  To  be  compelled  to  fulfil 
all  the  duties  of  a  calling  with  the  feeling  of  being  a 
woman  costumed  as  a  man,  and  to  see  no  end  of  it,  is 
no  trifle.    Religion  alone  saves  from  a  great  lapse ;  but  it 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


319 


does  not  prevent  tlie  pain  when  temptation  affects  the 
man  who  feels  as  a  woman;  and  so  it  must  be  felt  and 
endured!  When  a  respectable  man  who  enjoys  an  un- 
usual degree  of  public  confidence,  and  possesses  authority, 
must  go  about  with  his  vulva — imaginary  though  it  be; 
when  one,  leaving  his  arduous  daily  task,  is  compelled 
to  examine  the  toilette  of  the  first  lady  he  meets,  and  criti- 
cise her  with  feminine  eyes,  and  to  read  her  thoughts  in  her 
face;  when  a  journal  of  fashions  possesses  an  interest 
equal  to  that  of  a  scientific  work  (I  felt  this  as  a  child)  ; 
when  one  must  conceal  his  condition  from  his  wife,  whose 
thoughts,  the  moment  he  feels  like  a  woman,  he  can  read 
in  her  face,  while  it  becomes  perfectly  clear  to  her  that 
he  has  changed  in  body  and  soul — what  must  all  this  be  ? 
The  misery  caused  by  the  feminine  gentleness  that  must 
be  overcome  ?  Oftentimes,  of  course,  when  I  am  away 
alone,  it  is  possible  to  live  for  a  time  more  like  a  woman; 
for  example,  to  wear  female  attire,  especially  at  night,  to 
keep  gloves  on,  or  to  wear  a  veil  or  a  mask  in  my  room, 
so  that  thus  there  is  rest  from  excessive  libido.  But  when 
the  feminine  feeling  has  once  gained  an  entrance,  it  im- 
peratively demands  recognition.  It  is  often  satisfied  with 
a  moderate  concession,  such  as  the  wearing  of  a  bracelet 
above  the  cuff;  but  it  imperatively  demands  some  con- 
cession. My  only  happiness  is  to  see  myself  dressed 
as  a  woman  without  a  feeling  of  shame;  indeed,  when 
my  face  is  veiled  or  masked,  I  prefer  it  so,  and  thus  think 
of  myself.  Like  every  one  of  Fashion's  fools,  I  have  a 
taste  for  the  prevailing  mode,  so  greatly  am  I  trans- 
formed. To  become  accustomed  to  the  thought  of  feeling 
only  like  a  woman,  and  only  to  remember  the  previous 
manner  of  thought  to  a  certain  extent  in  contrast  with 
it,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  express  one's  self  as  a 
man,  requires  a  long  time  and  an  infinite  amount  of 
persistence. 

^^Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  everything,  it  will  happen 
that  I  betray  myself  by  some  expression  of  feminine 
feeling,  either  in  sexualibus,  when  I  say  that  I  feel  so  and 


320 


l»SYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


SO,  expressing  what  a  man  without  the  female  feeling 
cannot  know;  or  when  I  accidentally  betray  that  female 
attire  is  my  talent.  Before  women,  of  course,  this  does 
not  amount  to  anything;  for  a  woman  is  greatly  flattered 
when  a  man  understands  something  of  her  matters;  but 
this  must  not  be  displayed  to  my  own  wife.  How  fright- 
ened I  once  was  when  my  wife  said  to  a  friend  that  I  had 
great  taste  in  ladies'  dress !  How  a  haughty,  stylish  lady 
was  astonished  when,  as  she  was  about  to  make  a  great 
error  in  the  education  of  her  little  daughter,  I  described 
to  her  in  writing  and  verbally  all  the  feminine  feelings! 
To  be  sure,  I  lied  to  her,  saying  that  my  knowledge  had 
been  gleaned  from  letters.  But  her  confidence  in  me  is 
as  great  as  ever;  and  the  child,  who  was  on  the  road  to 
insanity,  is  rational  and  happy.  She  had  confessed  all  the 
feminine  inclinations  as  sins;  now  she  knows  what,  as  a 
girl,  she  must  bear  and  control  by  will  and  religion;  and 
she  feels  that  she  is  human.  Both  ladies  would  laugh 
heartily  if  they  knew  that  I  had  only  drawn  on  my  own 
sad  experience.  I  must  also  add  that  I  now  have  a  finer 
sense  of  temperature,  and,  besides,  a  sense  of  the  elasticity 
of  the  skin  and  tension  of  the  intestines,  etc.,  in  patients, 
that  was  unknown  to  me  before;  that  in  operations  and 
autopsies,  poisonous  fluids  more  readily  penetrate  my  (un- 
injured) skin.  Every  autopsy  causes  me  pain;  examina- 
tion of  a  prostitute,  or  a  woman  having  a  discharge,  a 
cancerous  odour,  or  the  like,  is  actually  repugnant  to  me. 
In  all  respects  I  am  now  under  the  influence  of  antipathy 
and  sympathy,  from  the  sense  of  colour  to  my  judgment  of 
a  person.  Women  usually  see  in  each  other  the  periodical 
sexual  disposition;  and,  therefore,  a  lady  wears  a  veil,  if 
she  is  not  always  accustomed  to  wear  one,  and  usually 
she  perfumes  herself,  even  though  it  be  only  with  handker- 
chief or  gloves;  for  her  olfactory  sense  in  relation  to  her 
own  sex  is  intense.  Odours  have  an  incredible  effect  on 
the  female  organism;  thus,  for  example,  the  odours  of 
violets  and  roses  quiet  me,  while  others  disgust  me;  and 
with  Ylang-Ylang  I  cannot  contain  myself  for  sexual  ex- 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IK  BOTH  SEXES.  321 


citement.  Contact  with  a  woman  seems  homogeneous  to 
me ;  coitus  with  my  wife  seems  possible  to  me  because  she 
is  somewhat  masculine,  and  has  a  firm  skin ;  and  yet  it  is 
more  an  amor  leshicus. 

^^Besides,  I  always  feel  passive.  Often  at  night,  when 
I  cannot  sleep  for  excitement,  it  is  finally  accomplished, 
si  femora  mea  distensa  haheo,  sicti  mulier  cum  viro  con- 
cumbenSy  or  if  I  lie  on  my  side;  but  an  arm  or  the  bed- 
clothing  must  not  touch  the  mammce,  or  there  is  no 
sleep;  and  there  must  be  no  pressure  on  the  abdomen. 
I  sleep  best  in  a  chemise  and  night-robe,  and  with  gloves 
on ;  for  my  hands  easily  get  cold.  I  am  also  comfortable 
in  female  drawers  and  petticoats,  because  they  do  not 
touch  the  genitals.  I  liked  female  dresses  best  when 
crinolines  were  worn.  Female  dresses  do  not  annoy  the 
feminine-feeling  man;  for  he,  like  every  woman,  feels 
them  as  belonging  to  his  person,  and  not  as  something 
foreign. 

^^My  dearest  associate  is  a  lady  suffering  with  neuras- 
thenia, who,  since  her  last  confinement,  feels  like  a  man, 
but  who,  since  I  explained  these  feelings  to  her,  coitu 
ahstinet  as  much  as  possible,  a  thing  I,  as  a  husband,  dare 
not  do.  She,  by  her  example,  helps  me  to  endure  my 
condition.  She  has  a  most  perfect  memory  of  the  female 
feelings,  and  has  often  given  me  good  advice.  Were  she 
a  man  and  I  a  young  girl  I  should  seek  to  win  her;  for 
her  I  should  be  glad  to  endure  the  fate  of  a  woman.  But 
her  present  appearance  is  quite  different  from  what  it 
formerly  was.  She  is  a  very  elegantly  dressed  gentleman, 
notwithstanding  bosom  and  hair;  she  also  speaks  quickly 
and  concisely,  and  no  longer  takes  pleasure  in  the  things 
that  please  me.  She  has  a  kind  of  melancholy  dissatis- 
faction with  the  world,  but  she  bears  her  fate  worthily 
and  with  resignation,  finding  her  comfort  only  in  religion 
and  the  fulfilment  of  her  duty.  At  the  time  of  the  menses, 
she  almost  dies.  She  no  longer  likes  female  society  and 
conversation,  and  has  no  liking  for  delicacies. 

^^A  youthful  friend  felt  like  a  girl  from  the  very  first, 

21 


322 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAUS. 


and  had  inclinations  towards  the  male  sex.  His  sister 
had  the  opposite  condition ;  and  when  the  uterus  demanded 
its  right,  and  she  saw  herself  as  a  loving  woman  in  spite  of 
her  masculinity,  she  cut  the  matter  short,  and  committed 
suicide  by  drowning. 

"Since  complete  effemination,  the  principal  changes  I 
have  observed  in  myself  are: — 

"1.  The  constant  feeling  of  being  a  woman  from  top 
to  toe. 

"2.   The  constant  feeling  of  having  female  genitals. 

"3.    The  periodicity  of  the  monthly  molimina. 

"4.  The  regular  occurrence  of  female  desire,  though 
not  directed  to  any  particular  man. 

"5.    The  passive  female  feeling  in  coitus. 

"6.   After  that,  the  feeling  of  impregnation. 

"7.    The  female  feeling  in  thought  of  coitus. 

"8.  At  the  sight  of  women,  the  feeling  of  being  of 
their  kind,  and  the  feminine  interest  in  them. 

"9.   At  the  sight  of  men,  the  feminine  interest  in  them. 

"10.  At  the  sight  of  children,  the  same  feeling. 

"11.  The  changed  disposition  and  much  greater  pa- 
tience. 

"12.  The  final  resignation  to  my  fate,  for  which  I  have 
nothing  to  thank  but  positive  religion ;  without  it  I  should 
have  long  ago  committed  suicide. 

"To  be  a  man  and  to  be  compelled  to  feel  that  chaque 
femme  est  futuee  ou  elle  desire  d'etre  is  hard  to  endure.'^ 

The  foregoing  autobiography,  scientifically  so  import- 
ant, was  accompanied  by  the  following  no  less  interesting 
letter ; — 

"SiR^ — I  must  next  beg  your  indulgence  for  troubling 
you  with  my  communication.  I  lost  all  control,  and 
thought  of  myself  only  as  a  monster  before  which  I  myself 
shuddered.  Then  your  work  gave  me  courage  again;  and 
I  determined  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  matter,  and 
examine  my  past  life,  let  the  result  be  what  it  might.  It 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELHSTG  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


323 


seemed  a  duty  of  gratitude  to  you  to  tell  you  the  result  of 
my  recollection  and  observation,  since  I  had  not  seen  any 
description  by  you  of  an  analogous  case;  and,  finally,  I 
also  thought  it  might  perhaps  interest  you  to  learn,  from 
the  pen  of  a  physician,  how  such  a  worthless  human,  or 
masculine,  being  thinks  and  feels  under  the  weight  of  the 
imperative  idea  of  being  a  woman. 

^^It  is  not  perfect;  but  I  no  longer  have  the  strength 
to  reflect  more  upon  it,  and  have  no  desire  to  go  into 
the  matter  more  deeply.  Much  is  repeated;  but  I  beg 
you  to  remember  that  any  mask  may  be  allowed  to  fall  off, 
particularly  when  it  is  not  voluntarily  worn,  but  enforced. 

"After  reading  your  work,  I  hope  that,  if  I  fulfil  my 
duties  as  physician,  citizen,  father  and  husband,  I  may 
still  count  myself  among  human  beings  who  do  not  deserve 
merely  to  be  despised. 

"Finally,  I  wished  to  lay  the  result  of  my  recollection 
and  reflection  before  you,  in  order  to  show  that  one  think- 
ing and  feeling  like  a  woman  can  still  be  a  physician.  I 
consider  it  a  great  injustice  to  debar  woman  from  Medi- 
cine. A  woman,  through  her  feeling,  gets  on  the  track  of 
many  ailments  which,  in  spite  of  all  skill  in  diagnosis,  re- 
main obscure  to  a  man ;  at  least,  in  the  diseases  of  women 
and  children.  If  I  could  have  my  way,  I  should  have 
every  physician  live  the  life  of  a  woman  for  three  months ; 
then  he  would  have  a  better  understanding  and  more  con- 
sideration in  matters  affecting  the  half  of  humanity  from 
which  he  comes;  then  he  would  learn  to  value  the  great- 
ness  of  woman,  and  appreciate  the  difficulty  of  her  lot." 

Remarks:  The  badly  tainted  patient  was  originally  psy- 
cho-sexually  abnormal,  in  that,  in  character  and  in  the 
sexual  act,  he  felt  as  a  female.  The  abnormal  feeling 
remained  purely  a  psychical  anomaly  until  three  years 
ago,  when,  owing  to  severe  neurasthenia,  it  received  over- 
mastering support  in  imperative  bodily  sensations  of  a 
transmutatio  sexus,  which  now  dominate  consciousness. 
Then,  to  the  patient's  horror,  he  felt  bodily  like  a  woman ; 
and,  under  the  impulse  of  his  imperative  feminine  sensa- 


324 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


tions,  he  experienced  a  complete  transformation  of  his 
former  masculine  feeling,  thought  and  will ;  in  fact,  of  his 
whole  vita  sexualis,  in  the  sense  of  eviration.  At  the  same 
time,  his  ^^ego"  was  able  to  control  these  abnormal  psycho- 
physical manifestations,  and  prevent  descent  to  paranoia^ — 
a  remarkable  example  of  imperative  feelings  and  ideas  on 
the  basis  of  neurotic  taint,  which  is  of  great  value  for  a 
comprehension  of  the  manner  in  which  the  psycho-sexual 
transformation  may  be  accomplished.  In  1893^  three 
years  later,  this  unhappy  colleague  sent  me  a  new  account 
of  his  present  state.  This  corresponded  essentially  with  the 
former.  His  physical  and  psychical  feelings  were  abso- 
lutely those  of  a  woman ;  but  his  intellectual  powers  were 
intact,  and  he  was  thus  saved  from  paranoia  {vide  infra). 

A  counterpart  to  this  case,  which  is  of  clinical  and 
psychological  moment,  is  that  of  a  lady  as  given  in  : — 

Case  130.  Mrs.  X.,  daughter  of  a  high  official.  Her 

mother  died  from  nervous  disease.  The  father  was  un- 
tainted, and  died  from  pneumonia  at  a  good  old  age.  Her 
brothers  and  sisters  had  inferior  psychopathic  dispositions ; 
one  brother  was  of  abnormal  character,  and  very  neuras- 
thenic. 

As  a  girl  Mrs.  X.  had  decided  inclinations  for  boys' 
sports.  So  long  as  she  wore  short  dresses  she  used  to  rove 
about  the  jfields  and  woods  in  the  freest  manner,  and 
:  climbed  the  most  dangerous  rocks  and  cliffs.  She  had  no 
taste  for  dresses  and  finery.  Once,  when  they  gave  her  a 
dress  made  in  boys'  fashion,  she  was  highly  delighted; 
and  when  at  school  they  dressed  her  up  in  boys'  clothes 
on  the  occasion  of  some  theatrical  performance,  she  was 
filled  with  bliss. 

Otherwise  nothing  betrayed  her  homo-sexual  inclina- 
tions. Up  to  her  marriage  (at  the  age  of  twenty-one)  she 
could  not  recall  to  mind  a  single  instance  in  which  she  felt 
herself  drawn  to  persons  of  her  own  sex.  Men  were 
equally  indifferent  to  her.    When  matured  she  had  many 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  325 

admirers.  This  flattered  her  greatly.  However,  she 
claimed  that  the  difference  of  the  sexes  never  entered  her 
mind;  she  was  only  influenced  by  the  difference  in  the 
dress. 

When  attending  the  first  and  only  ball  she  felt  interest 
only  in  intellectual  conversation,  but  not  in  dancing  or  the 
dancers. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  the  menses  set  in  without  difii- 
culty.  She  always  looked  upon  menstruation  as  an  un- 
necessary and  bothersome  function.  Her  engagement  with 
a  man  who,  though  good  and  rich,  yet  possessed  not  the 
slightest  knowledge  of  woman's  nature,  was  a  matter  of 
utter  indifference  to  her.  She  had  neither  sympathy  for 
nor  antipathy  against  matrimony.  Her  connubial  duties 
were  at  first  painful  to  her,  later  on  simply  loathsome. 
She  never  experienced  sexual  pleasure,  but  became  the 
mother  of  six  children.  When  her  husband  began  to 
observe  coitus  interruptus^  on  account  of  the  prolific  conse- 
quences, her  religious  and  moral  sentiments  were  hurt. 
Mrs.  X.  grew  more  and  more  neurasthenic,  peevish  and 
unhappy. 

She  suffered  from  descensus  uteris  erosions  on  the 
portio  vaginalis^  and  became  ansemic.  Gynecological  treat- 
ment and  visits  to  watering-places  procured  but  slight  im- 
provements. 

At  the  age  of  thirty-six  she  had  an  apoplectic  stroke, 
which  confined  her  to  bed  for  two  years,  with  heavy  neu- 
rasthenic ailments  (agrypnia,  pressure  in  the  head,  palpi- 
tation of  the  heart,  psychical  depression,  feelings  of  lost 
physical  and  mental  power,  bordering  even  on  insanity, 
etc.).  During  this  long  illness  a  peculiar  change  of  her 
psychical  and  physical  feelings  took  place. 

The  small  talk  of  the  ladies  visiting  her  about  love, 
toilet,  finery,  fashions,  domestic  and  servants'  affairs  dis- 
gusted her.  She  felt  mortified  at  being  a  woman.  She 
could  not  even  make  up  her  mind  again  to  look  in  the 
mirror.  She  loathed  combing  her  hair  and  making  her 
toilet    Much  to  the  surprise  of  her  own  people  her  hither- 


826 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


to  soft  and  decidedly  feminine  features  assumed  a  strongly 
masculine  character,  so  much  so  that  she  gave  the  impres- 
sion of  being  a  man  clad  in  female  garb.  She  complained 
to  her  trusted  physician  that  her  periods  had  stopped, — 
in  fact,  she  had  nothing  to  do  with  such  functions.  When 
they  recurred  again  she  felt  ill-tempered,  and  found  the 
odour  of  the  menstrual  flow  most  nauseating,  but  definitely 
refused  the  use  of  perfumes,  which  affected  her  in  a  similar 
unpleasant  manner. 

But  in  other  ways  she  felt  that  a  peculiar  change  had 
come  over  her  entire  being.  She  had  athletic  spells,  and 
great  desire  for  gymnastic  exercises.  At  times  she  felt  as 
if  she  were  just  twenty.  She  was  startled, — when  her 
neurasthenic  brain  allowed  of  thought  at  all, — at  the  flight 
and  novelty  of  her  thoughts,  at  her  quick  and  precise 
method  of  arriving  at  conclusions  and  forming  opinions, 
at  the  curt  and  short  way  of  expressing  herself,  and  her 
novel  choice  of  words  not  always  becoming  a  lady.  Even 
an  inclination  to  use  curse  words  and  oaths  was  noticeable 
in  this  otherwise  so  pious  and  correct  woman. 

She  reproached  herself  bitterly,  and  grieved  because 
she  had  lost  her  femininity,  and  scandalised  her  friends  by 
her  thoughts,  sentiments,  and  actions. 

She  also  perceived  a  change  in  her  body*  She  was 
horrified  to  notice  her  breasts  disappearing,  that  her  pelvis 
grew  smaller  and  narrower,  the  bones  became  more  mass- 
ive, and  her  skin  rougher  and  harder. 

She  refused  to  wear  any  more  a  lady's  night-dress  or  a 
lady's  cap,  and  put  away  her  bracelets,  earrings  and  fans. 
Her  maid  and  her  dressmaker  noticed  a  different  odour 
coming  from  her  person;  her  voice  also  grew  deeper, 
rougher,  and  quite  masculine. 

When  the  patient  was  finally  able  to  leave  her  bed,  the 
female  gait  had  altered,  feminine  gestures  and  movements 
in  her  female  attire  were  forced,  and  she  could  no  longer 
bear  to  wear  a  veil  over  her  face.  Her  former  period  of 
life  spent  as  a  woman  seemed  strange  to  her,  as  if  it  did 
not  belong  to  her  existence  at  all ;  she  could  play  no  longer 


HOMO-SEXUAL  PEELIITG  m  BOTH  SEXES. 


327 


the  role  of  woman.  She  assumed  more  and  more  the 
character  of  a  man.  She  experienced  strange  feelings  in 
her  abdomen;  and  complained  to  the  physician  attending 
her  that  she  could  feel  no  longer  the  internal  organs  of 
generation,  that  her  body  was  closed  up,  the  region  of  her 
genitals  enlarged,  and  often  had  the  sensation  of  possessing 
a  penis  and  scrotum.  She  showed,  also,  unmistakable 
symptoms  of  male  libido.  All  these  observations  affected 
her  deeply,  filled  her  with  horror,  and  depressed  her  so 
much  that  an  attack  of  insanity  was  apprehended.  But 
by  incessant  efforts  and  kind  advice  the  family  physician 
finally  succeeded  in  calming  the  patient  and  piloting  her 
safely  over  this  dangerous  point.  Little  by  little  she  gained 
her  equilibrium  in  this  novel,  strange  and  morbid  physico- 
psychical  form.  She  took  pains  in  performing  her  duties 
as  housewife  and  mother.  It  was  interesting  to  observe 
the  truly  manly  firmness  of  will  which  she  developed,  but 
her  former  softness  of  character  had  vanished.  She  as- 
sumed the  role  of  the  man  in  her  house,  a  circumstance 
which  led  to  many  dissensions  and  misunderstandings. 
She  became  an  enigma  which  her  husband  was  unable  to 
solve. 

She  complained  to  her  physician  that  at  times  a 
^^bestial  masculine  libido'^  threatened  to  overcome  her, 
which  made  her  despondent.  Marital  intercourse  with 
the  husband  appeared  to  her  most  repulsive — in  fact, 
impossible.  Periodically  the  patient  experienced  feminine 
emotions,  but  they  became  scarcer  and  weaker  as  time 
went  by.  At  such  periods  she  became  conscious  again  of 
her  female  genitals  and  breasts,  but  these  episodes  affected 
her  painfully,  and  she  felt  that  such  a  ^^second  trans- 
mutation" would  be  unbearable,  and  would  drive  her  to 
insanity. 

She  now  became  reconciled  to  her  transmutatio  sexus, 
brought  about  by  her  severe  illness,  and  bore  her  fate  with 
resignation,  finding  much  support  in  her  religious  con- 
victions. 

What  affected  her  most  keenly  was  the  fact  that,  like 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtJALIS. 


an  actress,  she  must  move  in  a  strange  sphere — Le,  in  that 
of  a  woman  (Status  Prsesens/'  Sept.,  1892). 

IV.  Degree:  Metamorphosis  Sexualis  Paranoica, 

A  final  possible  stage  in  this  disease-process  is  the  de- 
lusion of  a  transformation  of  sex.  It  arises  on  the  basis 
of  sexual  neurasthenia  that  has  developed  into  neurasthe- 
nia universalis^  resulting  in  a  mental  disease, — paranoia. 

The  following  cases  show  the  development  of  the  inter- 
esting neiiro-psychological  process  to  its  height : — 

Case  131.  K.,  aged  thirty-six,  male,  single,  servant, 
received  at  the  clinic  on  26th  February,  1889,  typical 
case  of  paranoia  persecutoria^  resulting  from  neurasthenia 
sexualisy  with  olfactory  hallucinations,  sensations,  etc. 

He  came  of  a  predisposed  family.  Several  brothers 
and  sisters  were  psychopathic.  Patient  had  a  hydro- 
cephalic skull,  depressed  in  the  region  of  the  right  fon- 
tanelle;  eyes  neuropathic.  He  had  always  been  very 
sensual;  began  to  masturbate  at  nineteen;  had  coitus  at 
twenty-three;  begat  three  illegitimate  children.  He  gave 
up  further  sexual  intercourse  on  account  of  fear  of 
begetting  more  children,  and  of  being  unable  to  provide 
for  them.  Abstinence  proved  very  painful  to  him.  He 
also  gave  up  masturbation,  and  was  then  troubled  with 
pollutions.  A  year  and  a  half  ago  he  became  sexually 
neurasthenic,  had  diurnal  pollutions,  became  thereafter  ill 
and  miserable,  and,  after  a  time,  generally  neurasthenic, 
finally  developing  paranoia, 

A  year  ago  he  began  to  have  parsesthetic  sensations, — 
as  if  there  were  a  great  coil  in  the  place  of  his  genitals; 
and  then  he  felt  that  his  scrotum  and  penis  were  gone,  and 
that  his  genitals  were  changed  into  those  of  a  female. 

He  felt  the  growth  of  his  breasts;  that  his  hair  was 
that  of  a  woman ;  and  that  feminine  garments  were  on  his 
body.  He  thought  himself  a  woman.  The  people  in  the 
street  gave  utterance,  to  corresponding  remarks:  ^Xook 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES.  329 

at  the  woman!  The  old  blowhard!"  In  a  half -dreamy 
state,  he  had  the  feeling  as  if  he  played  the  part  of  a 
woman  in  coitus  with  a  man,  which  caused  him  the  most 
lively  feelings  of  pleasure.  During  his  stay  at  the  clinic, 
a  remission  of  the  paranoia  occurred,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  a  marked  improvement  of  the  neurasthenia.  Then 
the  feelings  and  ideas  due  to  a  developing  metamorphosis 
sexualis  disappeared. 

A  more  advanced  case  of  eviration,  on  the  way  to  a 
transformatio  sexus  paranoica,  is  the  following: — 

Case  132.  Franz  St.,  aged  thirty-three;  school- 
teacher, single ;  probably  of  tainted  family ;  always  neuro- 
pathic; emotional,  timid,  intolerant  of  alcohol;  began  to 
masturbate  at  eighteen.  At  thirty  there  were  manifesta- 
tions of  neurasthenia  sexualis  (pollutions  with  consequent 
fatigue,  soon  beginning  to  occur  during  the  day;  pain  in 
the  region  of  the  sacral  plexus,  etc.).  Gradually,  spinal 
irritation,  pressure  in  the  head,  and  cerebral  neurasthenia 
were  added.  Since  the  beginning  of  1885  the  patient  had 
given  up  coitus,  in  which  he  no  longer  experienced  pleas- 
urable feeling.    He  masturbated  frequently. 

In  1888  he  began  to  have  delusions  of  suspicion.  He 
noticed  that  he  was  avoided,  and  that  he  had  unpleasant 
odours  about  him  (olfactory  hallucinations).  In  this  way 
he  explained  the  altered  attitude  of  people,  and  their 
sneezing,  coughing,  etc. 

He  could  smell  corpses  and  foul  urine.  He  recognised 
the  cause  of  his  bad  smells  in  inward  pollutions.  He 
recognised  these  in  a  feeling  he  had  as  if  a  fluid  flowed 
up  from  the  symphysis  toward  the  breast.  Patient  soon 
left  the  clinic. 

In  1889  he  was  again  received  in  an  advanced  stage  of 
paranoia  masturbatoria  persecutoria  (delusions  of  physical 
persecution). 

In  the  beginning  of  May,  1889,  the  patient  attracted 
notice,  in  that  he  was  cross  when  be  was  addressed  as 


330 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


^^mister''.  He  protested  against  it  because  lie  was  a 
woman.  Voices  told  him  this.  He  noticed  that  his 
breasts  were  growing.  Some  weeks  before,  others  had 
touched  him  in  a  sensual  manner.  He  heard  it  said  that 
he  was  a  whore.  Of  late,  dreams  of  pregnancy.  He 
dreamed  that,  as  a  woman,  he  indulged  in  coitus.  He  felt 
the  immissio  penis,  and,  during  the  hallucinatory  act,  also 
a  feeling  of  ejaculation. 

Head  straight;  facial  form  long  and  narrow;  parietal 
eminences  prominent;  genitals  normally  developed. 

The  following  case,  observed  in  the  asylum  at  lUenau, 
is  a  pertinent  example  of  lasting  delusional  alteration  of 
sexual  consciousness: — 

Case  133.  Metamorphosis  sexualis  paranoica.  N. 
aged  twenty-three,  single,  pianist,  was  received  in  the  asy- 
lum at  lUenau  in  the  last  part  of  October,  1865.  He  came 
of  a  family  in  which  there  was  said  to  be  no  hereditary 
taint!  but  there  was  phthisis  (father  and  brother  died  of 
pulmonary  tuberculosis).  Patient,  as  a  child,  was  weakly 
and  dull,  though  especially  talented  in  music.  He  was  al- 
ways of  abnormal  character;  silent,  retiring,  unsocial,  and 
sullen.  He  practised  masturbation  after  fifteen.  After  a 
few  years  neurasthenic  symptoms  (palpitation  of  the  heart, 
lassitude,  occasional  pressure  in  the  head,  etc.)  and  also 
hypochondriacal  symptoms  were  manifested.  During  the 
last  year  he  had  worked  with  great  difficulty.  For  about 
six  months  neurasthenia  had  increased.  He  complained 
of  palpitation  of  the  heart,  pressure  in  the  head,  and 
sleeplessness ;  was  very  irritable,  and  seemed  to  be  sexually 
excited.  He  declared  that  he  must  marry  for  his  health. 
He  fell  in  love  with  an  artiste,  but  almost  at  the  same 
time  (September,  1865),  fell  ill  with  paranoia  persecutoria 
(ideas  of  enemies,  derision  in  the  street,  poison  in  food; 
obstacles  were  placed  on  the  bridge  to  keep  him  from 
going  to  his  inamorata).  On  account  of  increasing  ex- 
citement  and  conflicts  with  those  about  him  that  he  con- 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IK  BOTH  SEXES. 


331 


sidered  inimical  to  him,  he  was  taken  to  the  asj^lum.  At 
first  he  presented  the  picture  of  a  typical  paranoia  perse- 
cutoria  with  symptoms  of  sexual,  and  later  general,  neuras- 
thenia, though  the  delusions  of  persecution  did  not  rest 
upon  this  neurotic  foundation.  It  was  only  occasionally 
that  the  patient  heard  such  sentences  as  this:  "Now  the 
semen  will  be  drawn  from  him.  Now  the  bladder  will  be 
cut  out.'' 

In  the  course  of  the  years  1866-68,  the  delusions  of 
persecution  became  less  and  less  apparent,  and  were  for 
the  most  part  replaced  by  erotic  ideas.  The  somatic  and 
mental  basis  was  a  lasting  and  powerful  excitation  of  the 
sexual  sphere.  The  patient  fell  in  love  with  every  woman 
he  saw,  heard  voices  which  told  him  to  approach  her,  and 
beg  to  be  allowed  to  marry,  declaring  that,  if  he  were 
not  given  a  wife,  he  would  waste  away.  With  continu- 
ance of  masturbation,  in  1869,  signs  of  future  effemination 
made  themselves  manifest.  "He  would,  if  he  should  get 
a  wife,  love  her  only  platonically.''  The  patient  grew 
more  and  more  peculiar,  lived  in  a  circle  of  erotic  ideas, 
saw  prostitution  practised  in  the  asylum,  and  now  and 
then  heard  voices  which  imputed  immoral  conduct  with 
women  to  him.  For  this  reason  he  avoided  the  society  of 
women,  and  only  associated  with  them  for  the  sake  of 
music  when  two  witnesses  were  with  him. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1872,  the  neurasthenic  con- 
dition became  markedly  increased.  Now  paranoia  perse- 
cutoria  again  came  into  the  foreground,  and  took  on  a 
clinical  colouring  from  the  neurotic  basis.  Olfactory 
hallucinations  occurred.  Magnetic  influences  were  at  work 
on  him — "magnetic  waves  produced  by  striking  an  anvil" 
(false  interpretation  of  sensations  due  to  spinal  asthenia). 
With  continued  and  intense  sexual  excitement  and  excess 
in  masturbation,  the  process  of  effemination  constantly 
progressed.  Only  episodically  was  he  a  man  and  inclined 
toward  a  woman,  complaining  that  the  shameless  prosti- 
tution of  the  men  in  the  house  made  it  impossible  for  a 
lady  to  come  to  him.    He  was  dying  of  magnetically  pois- 


332 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


oned  air  and  unsatisfied  love.  Without  love  he  could  not 
live.  He  was  poisoned  by  lewd  poison  that  affected  his 
sexual  desire.  The  lady  whom  he  loved  was  surrounded 
here  by  the  lowest  vice.  The  prostitutes  in  the  house  had 
fortune-chains;  that  is,  chains  in  which,  without  moving, 
a  man  can  indulge  in  lustful  pleasure.  He  was  ready 
now  to  satisfy  himself  with  prostitutes.  He  was  possessed 
of  a  wonderful  ray  of  thought  that  emanated  from  his  eyes, 
which  were  worth  20,000,000.  His  compositions  were 
worth  500,000  francs.  With  these  indications  of  delusions 
of  grandeur,  there  were  also  those  of  persecution — the  food 
was  poisoned  by  venereal  excrements;  he  tasted  and 
smelled  poison,  heard  infamous  accusations,  and  asked  for 
appliances  to  close  his  ears. 

From  August,  1872,  however,  the  signs  of  effemination 
became  more  and  more  frequent.  He  acted  somewhat 
affectedly,  declaring  that  he  could  no  longer  live  among 
men  that  drink  and  smoke.  He  thought  and  felt  like  a 
woman.  He  must  thenceforth  be  treated  like  a  woman  and 
transferred  to  a  female  ward.  He  asked  for  confections 
and  delicate  desserts.  Occasionally,  on  account  of  tenes- 
mus and  cystospasm,  he  asked  to  be  transferred  to  a  lying- 
in  hospital  and  treated  as  a  woman  very  ill  in  pregnancy. 
The  abnormal  magnetism  of  masculine  attendants  had  an 
unfavourable  effect  on  him. 

At  times  he  still  felt  himself  to  be  a  man,  but  in  a  way 
which  indicated  his  abnormally  altered  sexual  feeling.  He 
pleaded  only  for  satisfaction  by  means  of  masturbation^ 
or  for  marriage  without  coitus.  Marriage  was  a  sensual 
institution.  The  girl  that  he  would  take  for  a  wife  must 
be  a  masturbator. 

About  the  end  of  December,  1872,  his  personality  be- 
came completely  feminine.  From  that  time  he  remained 
a  woman.  He  had  always  been  a  woman,  but  in  his  baby- 
hood a  French  Quaker,  an  artist,  had  put  masculine  geni- 
tals on  him,  and  by  rubbing  and  distorting  his  thorax  had 
prevented  the  development  of  his  breasts. 

After  this  he  demanded  to  be  transferred  to  the  female 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  IN  BOTH  SEXES. 


333 


department,  protection  from  men  that  wished  to  violate 
him,  and  asked  for  female  clothing.  Eventually  he  also 
desired  to  be  given  employment  in  a  toy-shop,  with  crochet- 
ing and  embroidery  work  to  do,  or  a  place  in  a  dressmaking 
establishment  with  female  work.  From  the  time  of  the 
transformatio  sexus^  the  patient  began  a  new  reckoning  of 
time.  He  conceived  his  previous  personality  in  memory 
as  that  of  a  cousin. 

He  always  spoke  of  himself  in  the  third  person,  and 
called  himself  the  Countess  V.,  the  dearest  friend  of  the 
Empress  Eugenie;  asked  for  perfumes,  corsets,  etc.,  He 
took  the  other  men  of  the  ward  for  girls,  tried  to  raise  a 
head  of  hair,  and  demanded  ^^Oriental  Hair-Remover,'^ 
in  order  that  no  one  may  doubt  his  gender.  He  took  de- 
light in  praising  onanism,  for  ^^she  had  been  an  onanist 
from  fifteen,  and  had  never  desired  any  other  kind  of 
sexual  satisfaction".  Occasionally  neurasthenic  symptoms, 
olfactory  hallucinations,  and  persecutory  delusions  were 
observed.  All  the  events  up  to  the  time  of  December,  1872, 
belonged  to  the  personality  of  the  cousin. 

The  patient's  delusion  that  he  was  the  Countess  V. 
could  no  longer  be  corrected.  She  proved  her  identity  by 
the  fact  that  the  nurse  had  examined  her,  and  found  her  to 
be  a  lady.  The  countess  would  not  marry,  because  she  hated 
men.  Since  he  was  not  provided  with  female  clothing  and 
shoes,  he  spent  the  greatest  part  of  the  day  in  bed,  acted 
like  an  invalid  lady  of  position,  affectedly  and  modestly, 
and  asked  for  bon-bons  and  the  like.  His  hair  was  dont^  up 
in  a  knot  as  well  as  it  allowed,  and  the  beard  was  pulled 
out.    Breasts  were  made  of  rolls  of  bread. 

In  1874  caries  began  in  the  left  knee-joint,  to  which 
pulmonary  tuberculosis  was  soon  added.  Death  on  2nd 
December,  1874.  Skull  normal.  Frontal  lobes  atrophic. 
Brain  anaemic.  Microscopical  (Dr.  Schule).  In  the  su- 
perior layer  of  the  frontal  lobe,  ganglion  cells  somewhat 
shrunken;  in  the  adventitia  of  the  vessels,  numerous  fat- 
corpuscles;  ganglia  unchanged;  isolated  pigment  particles 
and  colloid  bodies.    The  lower  layers  of  the  cortex  normaL 


334 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Genitals  very  large;  testicles  small,  lax,  and  showed  no 
change  microscopically  on  section. 

The  delusion  of  sexual  transformation,  displayed  in  its 
conditions  and  phases  of  development  in  the  foregoing 
case,  is  a  manifestation  remarkably  infrequent  in  the 
pathology  of  the  human  mind.  Besides  the  foregoing 
cases,  personally  observed,  I  have  seen  such  a  case,  as  an 
episodical  phenomenon,  in  a  lady  having  sexual  inversion 
(case  118,  of  the  seventh  edition  of  this  work),  one  in  a  girl 
affected  with  original  paranoia^  and  another  in  a  lady 
suffering  with  original  paranoia. 

Save  for  a  case  briefly  reported  by  Arndt^  in  his  text- 
book, and  one  quite  superficially  described  by  Serieux 
(^^Recherches  Clinique,''  p.  33),  and  the  two  cases  known 
to  Esquiroly^  I  cannot  recall  any  cases  of  delusion  of  sexual 
transformation  in  literature. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  interesting  relations  ex- 
isting between  the  facts  of  delusional  transformation  of 
sex  and  the  so-called  insanity  of  the  Scythians. 

Marandon  ("Annales  medico-psychologiques,'^  187 Y,  p. 
161),  like  others,  has  erroneously  presumed  that  with  the 
ancient  Scythians  there  was  an  actual  delusion,  and  that 
the  condition  was  not  merely  that  of  eviration.  According 
to  the  law  of  empirical  actuality,  the  delusion,  so  infre- 
quent to-day,  must  also  have  been  very  infrequent  in  an- 
cient times.  Since  it  can  only  be  conceived  as  arising  on 
the  basis  of  paranoia,  there  can  be  no  thought  of  its  en- 
demic occurrence ;  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  superstitious 
manifestation  of  eviration  (the  result  of  anger  of  the 
goddess),  as  is  also  evident  from  the  statements  of  Hippo- 
crates. 

The  facts  of  the  so-called  Scythian  insanity,  as  well  as 

^  An  abstract  of  this  may  be  found  in  case  103  of  the  ninth  edition 
of  this  book. 

'  0/.  ihid.^  cases  104  and  105. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABNORMAL  MANIFESTATION,  335 


the  facts  lately  learned  about  the  Pueblo  Indians,  are  also 
worthy  of  note  anthropologically,  in  so  far  as  atrophy  of 
the  testes  and  genitals  in  general,  and  approximation  to 
the  female  type,  physically  and  mentally,  were  observed. 
This  is  the  more  remarkable,  since,  in  men  who  have  lost 
their  procreative  organs,  such  a  reversal  of  instinct  is  quite 
as  unusual  as  in  women,  mutatis  mutandis^  after  the  nat- 
ural or  artificial  climacteric. 

B.  Homo-Sexual  Feeling  as  an  Abnormal  Congenital 

Manifestation/ 

The  essential  feature  of  this  strange  manifestation  of 
the  sexual  life  is  the  want  of  sexual  sensibility  for  the 
opposite  sex,  even  to  the  extent  of  horror,  while  sexual 
inclination  and  impulse  toward  the  same  sex  are  present. 
At  the  same  time,  the  genitals  are  normally  developed,  the 

*  Bibliography  (besides  works  mentioned  hereafter):  Twrdieu, 
"Des  attentats  aux  moeurs,"  7  Mit.,  1878^  p.  210. — Eofmanrij 
"Lehrb.  d.  ger.  Med.,"  6  Aufl.,  pp.  170,  SS7.—0ley,  *'Revue  philo- 
sophique,"  1884,  No.  1. — Magncm,  "  Annal.  med-psychol.,"  1885,  p. 
458. — Shaw  and  Ferris^  "Journal  of  Nervous  and  Mental  Diseases," 
1883,  April,  No.  2. — Bernhardi,  "  Der  Uranismus,"  Berlin  (Volks- 
buchhandlung) ,  1882. — Chevalier ^  "  De  Tinversion  de  Tinstinct  sex- 
uel,"  Paris,  1885. — Ritti,  "  Gaz.  hebdom.  de  m^decine  et  de  chirurg.," 
1878,  4.  Januar. — Tamassia,  "  Kivista  sperim,"  1878,  pp.  97-117. — 
Lomhroso,  "  Archiv.  di  Psichiatr.,"  1881. —  Charcot  et  Magna/n, 
"  Archiv.  de  neurologie,"  1882,  Nr.  7,  12.— ifoW,  "  Die  contrare  Sex- 
ualempfindung,"  Berlin,  3rd  edit.,  1899  (numerous  bibliographic 
references ) . — Chevalier,  "  Archives  de  Panthropologie  criminelle," 
vol.  v.,  No.  27;  vol.  vi..  No.  31. — Reuss,  "Aberrations  du  sens 
g6n6sique,"  "Annales  d'hygi^ne  publique,"  1886. — Saury,  "Etude 
clinique  sur  la  folic  h^r^ditaire,"  1886. — Brouardel,  "  Gaz.  des  hop- 
itaux,"  1886  and  1887. — Tilier,  "L'instinct  sexuel  chez  I'homme  et 
chez  les  animaux,"  1889. — Carlier,  "  Les  deux  prostitutions,"  1887. — 
Lacassagne,  art.  "  P6d^rastie/'  in  the  "  Diction.  encyclopMique." — 
Vibert,  art.  "  P€d6rastie,"  in  the  "  Diction,  med.  et  de  chirurgie." — 
Coutagne,  "Lyon  medical,"  1880,  Nos.  35,  36. — Blunter,  "Americ. 
Journ.  of  Insanity,"  July,  1882.— F.  Krafft,  "  Zeitschr.  f  Psychiatric," 
No.  38. — Blumenstock,  art.  "  Contrare  Sexualempfindung,"  "  Realen- 
cyclop.  d.  ges.  Heilkunde,"  2  Aufl.  vi.—Brouardel,  "Gaz.  des 
hopiteaux,"  1887.— Jlriese,  "Inaugural  dissert.,"  Wttrzburg,  1888. — 
Hofman,  art.  "  Paederastie,"  "  Realencyclop.  d.  ges.  Heilkunde,"  2 


336 


BSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALlS. 


sexual  glands  perform  their  functions  properly,  and  the 
sexual  type  is  completely  diflferentiated. 

Feeling,  thought,  will,  and  the  whole  character,  in 
cases  of  the  complete  development  of  the  anomaly,  corre- 
spond with  the  peculiar  sexual  instinct,  but  not  with  the 
sex  which  the  individual  represents  anatomically  and 
physiologically.  This  abnormal  mode  of  feeling  may  not 
infrequently  be  recognized  in  the  manner,  dress  and 
calling  of  the  individuals,  who  may  go  so  far  as  to  yield 
to  an  impulse  to  don  the  distinctive  clothing  corresponding 
with  the  sexual  role  in  which  they  feel  themselves  to  be. 

Anthropologically  and  clinically,  this  abnormal  mani- 
festation presents  various  degrees  of  development : — 

1.  Traces  of  hetero-sexual,  with  predominating  homo- 
sexual, instinct  (psycho-sexual  hermaphroditism). 

2.  There  exists  inclination  only  toward  the  same  sex 
(homo-sexuality) . 

3.  The  entire  mental  existence  is  altered  to  correspond 
with  the  abnormal  sexual  instinct  (effemination  and 
viraginity  ) . 

4.  The  form  of  the  body  approaches  that  which 
corresponds  to  the  abnormal  sexual  instinct.  Howevei! 
actual  transitions  to  hermaphrodites  never  occur,  but,  ojh 
the  contrary,  completely  differentiated  genitals;  so  that; 
just  as  in  all  pathological  perversions  of  the  sexual  life, 

Aufl.  XV. — Tarnowsky,  **  Die  krankhaften  Ercheinungen  des  Ge- 
schlechtsinnes,"  Berlin,  1886. — Magnan,  **  Stance  de  racad^mie  de 
m^deeine  du  13  Janvier,"  1885,  idem,  "Annales  medico  psycho!.,"  1886 
( "  Anomalies  du  sens  genital " ;  "  Discussion  sur  la  f  olie  h6r6d- 
itaire"). — Serieux,  *' Recherches  cliniques  sur  les  anomalies  de 
Finstinct  sexuel,"  Paris,  1886. — Chevalier^  "  L'inversion  sexuelle," 
Lyon,  Paris,  1893. — Ladame,  *'  Pevue  de  I'hypnotisme,"  Sept.,  1889.— 
Peyerj  "Munch,  med.  Wochenschrift,"  1890,  No.  23. — Lewin^ 
"  Neurolog.  Centralblatt,"  1891,  No.  18.— F.  Schrenck-Notzing,  "  Die 
Suggestions-therapie,"  etc.,  Stuttgart. — Eulenhurg,  op.  ext.,  p.  66, 
"  Homo-sexuelle  Parerosie." — Raffalovich,  "  Die  Entwickelung  der 
Homo-sexualitat,"  Berlin,  1895, — idem,  "  Uranisme  et  Unisexualitg," 
Paris,  1886, — V.  Schrenck-Notzing,  "  Klin.  Zeit-  und  Streitfragen," 
ix.  1  (Wien,  1895). — Laupts,  "Perversion  et  perversity  sexuelles," 
Paris,  1896. — Legrain,  "Des  anomalies  de  Tinstinct  sexuel,"  etc., 
Paris^  1896. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABNORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  337 

the  cause  must  be  sought  in  the  brain  {androgyny  and 
gynandry). 

The  first  definite  communications^  concerning  this 
enigmatical  phenomenon  of  Nature  are  made  by  Casper 
(^^Ueber  Nothzucht  und  Paderastie/'  Casper's  "Viertel- 
jahrsschrift/'  1852,  i.),  who,  it  is  true,  classes  it  with 
pederasty,  but  makes  the  pertinent  remark  that  this 
anomaly  is,  in  most  cases,  congenital,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  be  regarded  as  a  mental  hermaphroditism.  There 
exists  here  an  actual  disgust  of  sexual  contact  with  women, 
while  the  imagination  is  filled  with  beautiful  young  men, 
and  with  statues  and  pictures  of  them.  It  did  not  escape 
Casper  that  in  such  cases  emissio  penis  in  anum  (peder- 
asty) is  not  the  rule,  but  that,  by  means  of  other  sexual 
acts  (mutual  onanism),  sexual  satisfaction  is  sought  and 
obtained. 

In  his  "Clinical  Novels''  (1863,  p.  33)  Casper  gives 
the  interesting  confession  of  a  man  showing  this  perver- 
sion of  the  sexual  instinct,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  assert 
that,  aside  from  vicious  imagination  and  vice,  as  a  result  of 
over-indulgence  in  normal  sexual  intercourse,  there  are 
numerous  cases  in  which  "pederasty"  has  its  origin  in 
a  remarkable,  obscure  impulse,  which  is  congenital  and 
inexplicable.  About  the  middle  of  the  "sixties''  a  certain 
assessor,  Ulrichs,  himself  subject  to  this  perverse  instinct, 
declared,  in  numerous  articles,  under  the  nom-de-plume 

^Dr.  Moll,  of  Berlin,  caUed  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  in 
Moritz's  "  Magazin  f.  Erfahrungsseelenkunde,"  vol.  viii.,  Berlin,  1791, 
references  are  made  to  antipathic  sexual  instinct  in  man.  In  fact,  two 
biographies  of  men  are  there  reported  who  manifested  an  enthusiastic 
love  for  persons  of  their  own  sex.  In  the  second  case,  which  is  par- 
ticularly noteworthy,  the  patient  himself  explains  his  aberration  by 
the  fact  that,  as  a  child  he  was  caressed  only  by  grown  persons,  and 
as  a  boy  of  ten  or  twelve  years  only  by  his  school-fellows.  "  This, 
and  the  want  of  association  with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  in  me 
caused  the  natural  inclination  toward  the  female  sex  to  be  entirely 
diverted  to  the  male  sex.    I  am  still  quite  indifferent  to  women." 

It  cannot  be  determined  whether  such  a  case  is  one  of  con- 
genital (psycho-sexual  hermaphrodisia?)  or  acquired  antipathic 
sexual  instineL 


338 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


^^IsTuma  Numantius/  that  the  sexual  mental  life  was  not 
connected  with  the  bodily  sex;  that  there  were  male  in- 
dividuals that  felt  like  women  toward  men  (anima  mulie- 
bris  in  corpore  virili  inclusa).  He  called  these  people 
''urnings/'  and  demanded  nothing  less  than  the  legal 
and  social  recognition  of  this  sexual  love  of  the  urnings 
as  congenital  and^  therefore,  as  right;  and  the  permission 
of  marriage  among  them.  Ulrichs  failed,  however,  to 
prove  that  this  certainly  congenital  and  paradoxical  sexual 
feeling  was  physiological,  and  not  pathological. 

Griesinger  (^^Archiv  f.  Psychiatric,''  i.,  p.  651)  threw 
the  first  ray  of  light  on  these  facts,  anthropologically  and 
r  clinically  by  pointing  out  the  marked  hereditary  taint 
of  the  individual  in  a  case  which  came  under  his  own 
observation. 

We  owe  thanks  to  Westphal  (^^Archiv  f.  Psychiatric,'' 
ii.,  p.  73)  for  the  first  systematic  consideration  of  the 
manifestation  in  question,  which  he  defined  as  ^  ^congenital 
reversal  of  the  sexual  feeling,  with  consciousness  of  the 
abnormality  of  the  manifestation,''  and  designated  with 
the  name,  since  generally  accepted,  of  antipathic  sexual 
instinct.  At  the  same  time,  he  began  a  series  of  cases, 
which  up  to  this  time  has  numbered  about  200,  those 
reported  in  this  monograph  not  being  included. 

Westphal  leaves  it  undecided  as  to  whether  antipathic 
sexual  feeling  is  a  symptom  of  a  neuropathic  or  of  a 
psychopathic  condition,  or  whether  it  may  occur  as  an 
isolated  manifestation.  He  holds  fast  to  the  opinion  that 
the  condition  is  congenital. 

From  the  cases  published  up  to  1877  I  have  desig- 
nated this  peculiar  sexual  feeling  as  a  functional  sign 
of  degeneration,  and  as  a  partial  manifestation  of  a 
neuro-  (psycho-)  pathic  state,  in  most  cases  hereditary, — a 
supposition  which  has  found  renewed  confirmation  in  a 

^ "  Vindex,  Inclusa,  Vindicta,  Formatrix,  Ara  spei,  Gladius 
furens"  (Leipzig,  H.  Mattlies,  1864  and  1865);  Ulrichs,  "  Kritische 
Pfeile,"  1879,  in  Commission,  by  H.  Cronlein,  Stuttgart,  Augusten- 
strasse,  5. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABTsTORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  339 

consideration  of  additional  cases.  The  following  pecu- 
liarities may  be  given  as  the  signs  of  this  neuro-  (psycho-) 
pathic  taint : — 

1.  The  sexual  life  of  individuals  thus  organized  mani- 
fests itself,  as  a  rule,  abnormally  early,  and  thereafter  with 
abnormal  power.  Not  infrequently  still  other  perverse 
manifestations  are  presented  besides  the  abnormal  method 
of  sexual  satisfaction,  which  in  itself  is  conditioned  by  the 
peculiar  sexual  feeling. 

2.  The  psychical  love  manifest  in  these  men  is,  for 
the  most  part,  exaggerated  and  exalted  in  the  same  way 
as  their  sexual  instinct  is  manifested  in  consciousness, 
with  a  strange  and  even  compelling  force. 

3.  By  the  side  of  the  functional  signs  of  degeneration 
attending  antipathic  sexual  feeling  are  found  other 
functional,  and  in  many  cases  anatomical,  evidences  of 
degeneration. 

4.  Neuroses  (hysteria,  neurasthenic,  epileptoid  states, 
etc.)  co-exist.  Almost  invariably  the  existence  of  tem- 
porary or  lasting  neurasthenia  may  be  proved.  As  a  rule, 
this  is  constitutional,  having  its  root  in  congenital  condi- 
tions. It  is  awakened  and  maintained  by  masturbation  or 
enforced  abstinence. 

In  male  individuals,  owing  to  these  practices  or  to 
congenital  disposition,  there  is  finally  neurasthenia  sex- 
ualiSj  which  manifests  itself  essentially  in  irritable  weak- 
ness of  the  ejaculation  centre.  Thus  it  is  explained  that, 
in  most  of  the  cases,  simply  embracing  and  kissing,  or  even 
only  the  sight  of  the  loved  person,  induce  the  act  of  ejacu- 
lation. Frequently  this  is  accompanied  by  an  abnormally 
powerful  feeling  of  lustful  pleasure,  which  may  be  so  in- 
tense as  to  suggest  a  feeling  of  ^^magnetic"  currents  pass- 
ing through  the  body. 

5.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  psychical  anomalies  (bril- 
liant endowment  in  art,  especially  music,  poetry,  etc.,  by 
the  side  of  bad  intellectual  powers  or  original  eccentricity) 
are  present,  which  may  extend  to  pronounced  conditions 
of  mental  degeneration  (imbecility,  moral  insanity). 


340 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


In  many  urnings,  either  temporarily  or  permanently, 
insanity  of  a  degenerative  character  (pathological  emo- 
tional states,  periodical  insanity,  paranoia^  etc.)  makes  its 
appearance. 

6.  In  almost  all  cases  where  an  examination  of  the 
physical  and  mental  peculiarities  of  the  ancestors  and 
blood  relations  has  been  possible,  neurosis,  psychoses, 
degenerative  signs,  etc.,  have  been  found  in  the  families.^ 

The  depth  of  congenital  antipathic  sexual  feeling  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  lustful  dream  of  the  male-loving 
urning  has  for  its  content  only  male  individuals;  that  of 
the  female-loving  woman,  only  female  individuals,  with 
corresponding  situations. 

The  observation  of  Westphal,  that  the  consciousness  of 
one  congenitally  defective  in  sexual  desires  toward  the 
opposite  sex  is  painfully  affected  by  the  impulse  toward 
the  same  sex,  is  true  in  only  a  number  of  cases.  Indeed, 
in  many  instances,  the  consciousness  of  the  abnormality 
of  the  condition  is  wanting.  The  majority  of  urnings  are 
happy  in  their  perverse  sexual  feeling  and  impulse,  and 
unhappy  only  in  so  far  as  social  and  legal  barriers  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  satisfaction  of  their  instinct  toward 
their  own  sex. 

The  study  of  antipathic  sexual  feeling  points  directly 
to  anomalies  of  the  cerebral  organisation  of  the  affected 
individuals.  The  very  fact  that  in  these  cases,  with  few 
exceptions,  the  sexual  glands  are  found  quite  normal, 
anatomically  and  functionally,  seems  to  favour  this 
assumption. 

This  enigmatical  manifestation  in  the  nature  of  man 
has  led  to  many  attempts  of  explanation. 

Among  lay  persons,  it  is  called  vice;  in  the  language 

^TarnowsJcy  (op.  cit.,  p.  34)  records  a  case  which  shows  that 
antipathic  sexual  feeling,  as  a  concomitant  manifestation  with 
neurotic  degeneration,  may  also  affect  the  descendants  of  parents 
having  no  neurotic  taint.  In  this  instance,  lues  of  the  parents  played 
a  part,  as  in  a  similar  case  of  Scholz  ("  Vierteljahrsschr.  f.  ger- 
Med."),  in  which  the  perversion  of  the  sexual  desires  stood  in  causal 
relation  with  an  arrest  of  psychical  development,  caused  by 
traumatism. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABISTORMAE  MANIFESTATION.  341 

of  the  law,  crime.  Those  tainted  with  it,  although  recog- 
nising it  as  an  abnormality,  claim  for  it  the  same  rights 
and  privileges  that  are  accorded  to  normal  (hetero-sexual) 
love,  on  account  of  its  being  based  upon  a  freak  of  nature. 
From  Plato  down  to  Ulrichs,  in  antipathic  sexual  circles, 
this  standpoint  is  maintained.  Plato's  ^^Banquet/'  chap- 
ters viii.  and  ix.,  are  quoted  for  that  purpose,  viz»:  ^^There 
is  no  Aphrodites  without  an  Eros.  But  there  are  two 
goddesses.  The  older  Aphrodites  came  into  existence 
without  a  mother;  being  the  daughter  of  Uranos  she  is 
called  Urania.  The  younger  Aphrodites  is  the  daughter 
of  Zeus  and  Diana  and  is  called  Pandemos.  The  Eros 
of  the  former  must,  therefore,  be  Uranos,  that  of  the 
latter  Pandemos.  With  the  love  of  Eros  Pandemos  the 
ordinary  human  beings  love;  Eros  Uranos  did  not  choose 
a  female  but  a  male;  this  is  the  love  for  boys.  Whoever 
is  inspired  with  this  love  turns  to  the  male  sex.''  From 
many  other  places  in  the  classics  the  impression  may  be 
won  that  Uranic  love  attained  a  higher  position  even 
than  her  sister.  More  recent  explanations  of  the  homo- 
sexual instinct  have  emanated  from  philosophers,  psycho- 
logists and  natural  scientists. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  explanations  is  advanced  by 
Schopenhauer  (^^Die  Welt  als  Wille  und  Vorstellung" ) , 
who  seriously  contends  that  nature  seeks  to  prevent  old 
men  (i.e.,  over  fifty  years  of  age)  from  begetting  children, 
since  experience  teaches  that  these  never  turn  out  good. 
For  this  purpose  nature  in  her  wisdom  has  turned  the 
sexual  instinct  in  old  men  toward  their  own  sex!  The 
great  philosopher  and  thinker  evidently  was  not  aware 
that  sexual  inversion,  as  a  rule,  exists  ah  origine,  and  that 
pederasty,  occurring  in  the  senium,  is  only  sexual  per- 
versity, but  by  no  means  proves  the  presence  of  perversion. 

Binet  attempts  to  explain  these  peculiar  manifestations 
from  a  psychological  standpoint,  thinking  (with  Condillac) 
to  reduce  them — together  with  other  bizarre  psychical 
phenomena  —  to  the  law  of  association  of  ideas  (i,e., 
association  of  ideas  with  sentiments  in  statu  nascendi). 


342 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


This  clever  psychologist  assumes  that  the  instinct  not 
as  yet  sexually  differentiated  is  determined  by  the  coin- 
cidence of  a  vivid  sexual  emotion  with  the  simultaneous 
sight  or  contact  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex.  In 
this  manner  a  mighty  association  is  created,  which  takes 
root  by  repeating  itself,  whilst  the  original  associative 
process  is  forgotten  or  becomes  latent.  Even  to-day  v. 
SchrencTc-Notzing  and  others  lean  to  this  opinion,  in  their 
efforts  to  explain  the  inverted  sexual  instinct  (chiefly 
when  acquired)  ;  but  it  cannot  withstand  serious  criticism. 
Psychological  forces  are  insufficient  to  explain  manifesta- 
tions of  so  thoroughly  degenerated  a  character  {vide  infra). 

Chevalier  ("^^Inversion  Sexuelle,''  Paris,  1893)  rightly 
demurs  against  Binet  that  these  attempts  at  psychological 
explanations  explain  neither  the  precocity  of  homo-sexual 
impulses,  i,e.,  such  as  have  existed  long  before  sexual 
feelings  were  associated  with  imagination,  nor  the  aver- 
sion towards  the  opposite  sex,  nor  early  appearance  of 
secondary  psychico-sexual  manifestations.  JSTevertheless, 
Binefs  subtle  remark  that  the  lasting  presence  of  such 
associations  is  only  possible  in  predisposed  (tainted)  indi- 
viduals is  worthy  of  note. 

ISTeither  do  the  explanations  attempted  by  physicians 
and  naturalists  prove  anything  to  satisfaction.  Gley 
(^^Revue  philosophique,'^  January,  1884)  maintains  that 
those  afflicted  with  inverted  sexual  instinct  have  a  female 
brain  (  !)  but  masculine  sexual  glands,  and  that  an  existing 
morbid  condition  of  the  brain  determines  the  sexual  life, 
whilst  e  contra  and  normally  the  sexual  glands  influence 
the  sexual  cerebral  functions.  Magnan  (^^Annales  med. 
psychol.,'^  1885,  p.  458)  also  speaks  of  a  female  brain  in 
the  body  of  a  man  and  vice  versa.  UlricJis  (^^Memnon,'^ 
1868)  comes  closer  to  the  point  when  he  speaks  of  an 
anima  muliebris  virili  corpori  innati^  and  thus  seeks  to 
explain  congenital  effeminatio.  According  to  Mantegazza 
(op.  cit.  1886,  p.  106),  anatomical  anomalies  exist  in  such 
persons  in  so  far  as  the  natural  plexus  of  the  genital  nerves 
terminates  in  the  rectum,  thus  misdirecting  thither  all 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABN^ORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  343 

lustful  desires.  But  surely  nature  never  is  guilty  of  such 
errors  or  ''saltus'\  Neither  does  she  burden  a  masculine 
body  with  a  female  brain.  The  author  of  this  hypothesis, 
otherwise  so  acute,  quite  overlooks  the  fact  that  the 
individuals  given  to  sexual  inversion,  as  a  rule,  abhor 
the  use  of  the  anus — viz,^  pederasty.  Mantegazza  reverts, 
as  a  support  for  his  hypothesis,  to  the  communications 
which  he  received  from  a  well-known  prominent  author, 
who  assured  him  that  he  was  not  as  yet  satisfied  in  his 
own  mind  whether  he  derived  greater  pleasure  from  coitus 
than  from  defsecation.  Even  if  we  admit  the  correctness 
of  this  statement,  it  would  only  prove  that  its  author  was 
sexually  abnormal,  and  that  he  derived  but  a  minimum  of 
pleasure  from  coitus.  Moreover,  one  would  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  mucous  membrane  of  his  rectum  was, 
in  some  abnormal  manner,  erogenous. 

Bernhardi  (^^Der  Uranismus,^'  Berlin,  1882)  casually 
found  in  five  effeminati  {"Pathici")  absence  of  spermato- 
zoa, in  four  cases  not  even  sperm  crystals,  and  thought  to 
find  the  solution  of  this  "enigma  of  many  thousand  years'^ 
in  the  assumption  that  the  pathicus  was  a  "monster  of 
the  feminine  sex,  having  nothing  else  in  common  with 
the  male  than  the  male  genitals,  which  in  some  cases  are 
even  only  imperfectly  developed".  This  author  could  not 
even  base  his  contention  upon  an  autopsy,  which,  no  doubt, 
would  have  eventually  established  a  case  of  hermaphrodit- 
ism. 

Those  practising  active  viraginity  and  gynandry  he 
styles  as  "monsters  of  masculine  gender  in  opposition  to 
which  the  passive  tribade  is  as  perfect  a  woman  as  the 
active  psedicator  is  a  perfect  man''. 

The  author  of  this  book  has  made  an  attempt  to  utilise 
facts  of  heredity  for  an  explanation  of  this  anomaly. 
Proceeding  from  the  experience  that  manifestations  of 
sexual  perversion  are  frequently  found  in  the  parents,  he 
suspects  that  the  various  grades  of  congenital  sexual 
inversion  represent  various  grades  of  sexual  anomaly 
inherited  by  birth,  acquired  by  ascendency,  or  otherwise 


344 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


developed.  In  this  connection,  the  law  of  progressive 
heredity  must  also  be  considered. 

All  attempts  at  explanation  made  hitherto  on  the 
ground  of  natural  philosophy  or  psychology,  or  those  of 
a  merely  speculative  character  are  insufficient. 

Later  researches,  however,  proceeding  on  embryo- 
logical  (onto-  and  phylogenetic)  and  anthropological  lines 
seem  to  promise  good  results. 

Emanating  from  Franh  Lydston  ('Philadelphia  Med. 
and  Surg.  Recorder,''  September,  1888,)  and  Kiernan 
(^'Medical  Standard,"  ISTovember,  1888),  they  are  based 
(1)  on  the  fact  that  bisexual  organisation  is  still  found  in 
the  lower  animal  kingdom,  and  (2)  on  the  supposition  that 
mono-sexuality  gradually  developed  from  bisexuality. 
Kiernan  assumes  in  trying  to  subordinate  sexual  inversion 
to  the  category  of  hermaphroditism  that  in  individuals  thus 
affected  retrogression  into  the  earlier  hermaphrodisic 
forms  of  the  animal  kingdom  may  take  place  at  least 
functionally.  These  are  his  own  words:  ''The  original 
bisexuality  of  the  ancestors  of  the  race,  shown  in  the 
rudimentary  female  organs  of  the  male,  could  not  fail  to 
occasion  functional,  if  not  organic  reversions,  when  mental 
or  physical  manifestations  were  interfered  with  by  disease 
or  congenital  defect.  It  seems  certain  that  a  feminily 
functionating  brain  can  occupy  a  male  body  and  vice  versa. 

Chevalier  (op.  cit.,  p.  408)  proceeds  from  the  original 
bisexual  life  in  the  animal  kingdom,  and  the  original 
bisexual  predisposition  in  the  human  foetus. 

According  to  him  the  difference  in  the  gender,  with 
marked  physical  and  psychical  sexual  character,  is  only 
the  result  of  endless  processes  of  evolution.  The  psycho- 
physical sexual  difference  runs  parallel  with  the  high  level 
of  the  evolving  process.  The  individual  being  must 
also  itself  pass  through  these  grades  of  evolution;  it  is 
originally  bisexual,  but  in  the  struggle  between  the  male 
and  female  elements  either  one  or  the  other  is  conquered, 
and  a  monosexual  being  is  evolved  which  corresponds  with 
the  type  of  the  present  stage  of  evolution.    But  traces  of 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABNORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  345 

the  conquered  sexuality  remain.  Under  certain  circum- 
stances, these  caracteres  sexuels  latents  may  gain  Darwin's 
signification,  i.e,^  they  may  provoke  manifestations  of 
inverted  sexuality.  Chevalier  does  not,  however,  look 
upon  such  processes  as  a  retrogression  (atavism),  in  the 
sense  of  Lombroso's  opinion  and  that  of  others,  but  rather 
considers  them  with  Lacassagne  as  disturbances  in  the 
present  stage  of  evolution. 

If  the  structure  of  this  opinion  is  continued,  the  fol- 
lowing anthropological  and  historical  facts  may  be 
evolved : — 

1.  The  sexual  apparatus  consists  of  (a)  the  sexual 
glands  and  the  organs  of  reproduction;  (&)  the  spinal 
centres,  which  act  either  as  a  check  or  a  stimulus  upon 
(a) ;  (c)  the  cerebral  regions,  in  which  the  psychical 
processes  of  the  vita  sexualis  are  enacted. 

Since  the  original  predisposition  of  (a)  is  of  a  bisexual 
character,  the  same  must  be  claimed  for  (&)  and  (c). 

2.  The  tendency  of  nature  in  the  present  stage  of 
evolution  is  the  reproduction  of  monosexual  individuals, 
and  the  law  of  experience  teaches  that  that  cerebral  centre 
is  normally  developed  which  corresponds  with  the  sexual 
glands  (^^Law  of  the  Sexual  Homologous  Development''), 

3.  This  destruction  of  antipathic  sexuality  is  at  present 
not  yet  completed.  In  the  same  manner  in  which  the 
processus  vermiformis  in  the  intestinal  tube  points  to 
former  stages  of  organisation,  so  may  also  be  found  in 
the  sexual  apparatus — in  the  male  as  well  as  in  the 
female — residua,  which  point  to  the  original  onto-  and 
phylogenetic  bisexuality,  not  to  speak  of  hermaphrodisic 
malformations,  which  may  be  looked  upon  merely  as 
partial  excesses  of  development,  or  disturbances  in  the 
formation  of  the  sexual  organisation,  and  especially  of 
the  external  genitals. 

The  residua  referred  to  are,  in  the  male,  the  utriculus 
masculinus  (remnants  of  the  ^^Miillersche  Gauge")  and 
the  nipple,  in  woman  the  paroophoron  (remnants  of  the 
original  renal  portions  of  the  Wolffian  bodies),  and  the 


346 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


epoophoron  (remnants  of  "Wolff's  ganglia,  and  analogous 
with  the  epididymis  in  the  male).  Beigel^  Klehs,  Furst  and 
others  have  found  in  the  human  female  suggestions  of  the 
Wolffian  bodies  in  the  shape  of  the  so-called  Gartnerian 
canals,  which  in  the  female  ruminants  are  regularly  present 
in  the  lateral  wall  of  the  uterus. 

4.  Besides,  a  long  line  of  clinical  and  anthropological 
facts  favour  this  assumption. 

I  will  only  call  attention  to  the  not  infrequent  cases 
of  individuals  with  characters  of  mixed  or  (in  the 
sense  of  sexual  inversion)  predominating  physical  and 
psychical  sexuality  (^^female  men  and  male  women"),  to 
the  appearance  of  the  female  character  (psychically  and 
physically)  in  men,  consequent  upon  castration  (eunuchs), 
and  of  the  male  character  in  woman  after  the  removal  of 
the  ovaries  in  early  youth,  also  to  the  manifestations  of 
viraginity  in  climax  prcecox,  and  even  to  the  development 
of  a  second  gender. 

Professor  Kaltenbach  gives  a  remarkable  instance  of 
such  a  second  (antipathic)  vita  sexualiSj  developed  upon 
climax  prcecox. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  1892,  he  consulted  me  about 
^^a  woman,  thirty  years  of  age,  married  two  years,  who 
formerly  had  irregular  menstruations.'' 

Since  June,  1891,  a  sudden  series  of  manifestations 
which  corresponded  with  the  process  of  masculine  puberty, 
viz.,  full  beard,  hair  of  the  head  much  darker,  eyebrows 
and  pubis  strongly  developed,  chest  and  abdomen  covered 
with  hair  as  in  man. 

Increased  activity  of  the  sudoriparous  and  sabaceous 
glands.  Upon  chest,  back  and  face  strong  miliary  and 
acne  developments,  whilst  formerly  the  tint  was  classically 
white  and  smooth.  Change  of  voice  —  formerly  rich 
soprano,  now  a  ^^lieutenant's  voice".  The  entire  facial 
expression  changed.  Complete  change  of  carriage:  chest 
broad,  waist  gone,  abdomen  prominent  with  adipose  tissue, 
short  thick-set  neck,  masculine  all  over.  Lower  part 
of  face  broad,  breasts  flat  and  masculine.  Psychical 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABNORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  347 

changes:  formerly  mild  and  tractable,  now  energetic, 
hard  to  control,  even  aggressive.  From  the  beginning 
of  marriage  no  adequate  sexual  desire,  but  no  traces  of 
inversion. 

In  the  sexual  organs  also  highly  interesting  changes 
may  be  found.  ^^Thus  this  young  woman  has  changed 
into  a  man,  to  all  intents  and  purposes." 

My  explanation  of  the  case : — 

^'Climax  prcecox,  loss  of  former  feminine  sexuality. 
Physical  and  psychical  development  of  male  sexuality, 
hitherto  latent.  Interesting  illustration  of  the  bi-sexual 
predisposition,  and  of  the  possibility  of  continued  existence 
of  a  second  sexuality  in  a  latent  state,  under  conditions 
hitherto  unknown.'' 

Unfortunately,  I  could  obtain  no  further  information 
about  the  subsequent  metamorphosis  of  this  case,  or  the 
presence  of  probable  hereditary  taint. 

Tide  also  cases  129  and  130.  In  these  severe  neuras- 
thenia was  the  causating  element  of  transmutatio  sexus, 
based  upon  heavy  taint;  the  change,  however,  being  only 
psychical,  and  not  affecting  the  physical  sexual  character. 

5.  These  manifestations  of  inverted  sexuality  are 
evidently  found  only  in  persons  with  organic  taint}  In 
normal  constitutions  the  law  of  mono-sexual  development, 
homologous  with  the  sexual  glands,  remains  intact.  That 
the  cerebral  centre  is  developed  under  other  conditions, 
quite  independent  from  the  peripheral  sexual  organs  (in- 
cluding the  sexual  glands),  is  evident  from  the  cases  of 
hermaphroditism  (at  least,  so  far  as  pseudo-hermaphrodi- 
tism  is  concerned),  in  which  the  law  referred  to  above  re- 
mains intact  in  the  sense  of  mono-sexual  development, 

*The  researches  in  zoology,  by  Klaus  ('^  Zoology, 1891,  p.  490) 
show  that,  in  the  lower  grades  of  the  animal  world,  not  only 
hermaphroditism  exists,  but  that  also  (physiological?)  sexual  ex- 
change in  one  and  the  same  individual  may  take  place.  Klaus  states 
that  the  cymothoidem  (^^lassified  under  Crustacea)  perform  in  the 
first  part  of  their  life  the  functions  of  the  male,  and  in  the  second 
part  under  many,  even  secondary,  changes  of  the  sexual  character 
tuose  9^  the  female. 


348 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


analogous  to  the  sexual  glands.  In  hermaproditismus 
verus,  however,  physically  as  well  as  psychically,  a  mutual 
influence  of  both  centres  obtains,  and  thus  also  a  neutral- 
isation of  the  vita  amoris,  assuming  even  a  state  of  asex- 
uality,  and  a  tendency  to  physically  and  psychically  com- 
bine and  put  into  operation  both  these  sexual  characters. 

But  hermaphroditism  and  sexual  inversion  stand  in  no 
relation  to  each  other.  This  is  clear  from  the  fact  that 
the  hermaphrodite  (or,  practically  speaking,  the  pseudo- 
hermaphrodite) follows  the  law  of  evolution  quoted  above, 
and  does  not  offer  inverted  sexuality,  whilst,  on  the 
other  hand,  hermaphroditism  has  never  been  anatomically 
observed  in  cases  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct.  This 
follows,  without  further  argument,  from  the  difference  of 
the  conditions  under  which  they  originate,  for  in  sexual 
inversion  we  must  look  for  the  cause  in  central  (cerebral) 
defects,  and  in  hermaphroditism  in  the  anomalies  affecting 
the  peripheral  sexual  apparatus. 

The  facts  quoted  seem  to  support  an  attempt  of  an 
historical  and  anthropological  explanation  of  sexual  inver- 
sion. 

It  is  a  disturbance  of  the  law  of  the  development  of 
the  cerebral  centre,  homologous  to  the  sexual  glands 
(homo  -  sexuality),  and  eventually  also  of  the  law  of 
the  mono-sexual  formation  of  the  individual  (psychical 
^hermaphroditism").  In  the  former  case  it  is  the  centre 
of  bi-sexual  predisposition,  antagonistic  to  the  gender 
represented  by  the  sexual  gland,  which  in  a  paradoxical 
manner  conquers  that  originally  intended  to  be  superior; 
yet  the  law  of  mono-sexual  development  obtains/ 

In  the  other  case  victory  lies  with  neither  centre;  yet 
an  indication  of  the  tendency  of  mono-sexual  development 

^  A  mono-sexual  psychic  apparatus  of  generation,  in  a  mono- 
sexual  body  which  belongs  to  the  opposite  sex,  does,  of  course,  not 
mean  a  "  feminine  soul  in  a  masculine  brain/'  or  vice  versa — this 
would  simply  contradict  all  monistic  and  scientific  thought;  neither 
a  feminine  brain  in  a  masculine  body — this  contradicts  every 
anatomical  fact — but  only  a  feminine  psycho-sexual  centre  in  a 
masculine  brain,  and  vice  versa. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  FEELING  AS  ABNORMAL  MANIFESTATION.  349 

remains,  in  so  far  that  one  is  predominant,  as  a  rule  the 
opposite.  This  is  the  more  remarkable  since  it  has  not 
the  support  of  a  corresponding  sexual  gland — in  fact,  not 
even  a  peripheral  sexual  apparatus,  another  proof  that  the 
cerebral  centre  is  autonomous,  and  in  its  development 
independent  of  the  sexual  glands. 

In  the  first  case  it  must  be  assumed  that  the  centre 
which  by  right  should  have  conquered  was  too  weak. 
This  fact  may  be  recognized  in  the  subsequently  weak 
libido  in  the  sexual  character,  but  feebly  marked  in  the 
physical  and  psychical  conditions. 

In  the  second  case  both  centres  were  too  weak  to 
obtain  victory  and  superiority. 

This  defect  of  the  natural  laws  must,  from  the  anthro- 
pological and  clinical  standpoint,  be  considered  as  a  man- 
ifestation of  degeneration.  In  fact,  in  all  cases  of 
sexual  inversion  a  taint  of  a  hereditary  character  may 
be  established.  What  causes  produce  this  factor  of  taint 
and  its  activity  is  a  question  w^hich  cannot  be  well 
answered  by  science  in  its  present  stage.^ 

There  are  plenty  of  analogous  cases  to  be  found  in 
tainted  individuals.  For  'the  symptoms  of  influences 
disturbing  physical  and  psychical  evolution,  and  plainly 
to  be  found  in  the  germ  of  procreation,  exhibit  themselves 
in  many  other  manifestations  of  a  defective  or  perverse 
character  (signs  of  anatomical,  functional,  somatic  and 
psychical  degeneration). 

The  antipathic  sexual  instinct  is  only  the  strongest 

^Joseph  Miiller,  in  a  clever  hrocliure  ("Ueber  Gamophagy," 
Stuttgart,  1892)  offers  an  inducement  for  further  research  in  this 
direction.  He  advances  the  opinion  that  by  a  certain  law,  established 
by  necessity,  and  transcending  in  normal  fashion,  a  union  of  the 
organs  and  their  qualities  is  effected.  This  union  would  explain  how, 
in  the  struggle  of  the  development  of  mono-  and  bi-sexuality,  those 
organs  and  their  qualities  suffer  the  common  fate  of  conquest  or 
defeat  which  belong  together  as  a  whole  with  regard  to  their 
functional  capacity.  The  defect  of  the  elements  connecting  the 
organs  during  the  struggle  for  superiority  in  beings  subject  to 
organic  taint  could  only  be  explained  as  a  negative  result  of  this 
hypothetical  law^ 


350 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


mark  left  by  a  whole  series  of  exhibitions  of  the  partial 
development  of  psychical  and  physical  inverted  sexual 
characters  (vide  supra) ,  and  one  may  be  easily  permitted 
to  say:  The  more  indistinct  the  psychical  and  physical 
sexual  characters  appear  in  the  individual,  the  deeper  it 
is  below  the  present  level  of  perfect  homologous  mono- 
sexuality  obtained  in  the  evolution  of  manifold  thousands 
of  years. 

The  cerebral  centre  mediates  the  psychical  and,  in- 
directly, also  the  physical  sexual  characters.  The  various 
grades  of  congenital  antipathic  sexuality  will  be  found  to 
correspond  with  the  intensity  of  various  grades  of  taint. 

The  same  holds  good  with  regard  to  ^^acquired''  sexual 
inversion,  which  exhibits  itself  only  later  in  life.  Un- 
tainted man  will  never  become  sexually  inverted  through 
onanism  or  seduction  by  persons  of  the  same  sex;  for,  as 
soon  as  the  extrinsic  influences  cease,  he  returns  to  normal 
sexual  functions.  The  tainted  individual,  however,  whose 
psycho-sexual  centre  is  originally  weak,  is  in  a  different 
position.  All  possible  psychical  and  physical  deficiencies, 
especially  neurasthenic,  are  able  to  impair  his  weakened 
sexuality,  homologous  though  it  may  have  been  hitherto 
to  the  sexual  glands.  These  evil  influences  may  render 
him  furthermost  psychically  bi-sexual,  then  invertedly 
mono-sexual,  and  eventually  may  effect  even  eviratio  {de- 
feminatio) ,  by  way  of  producing  physical  and  psychical 
characters  of  sexuality,  in  the  sense  of  predominating 
antipathic,  or  the  destruction  of  original,  centres.  On 
page  286,  etc.,  I  have  tried  to  show  in  how  far  neurasthenia 
may  give  the  impulse  for  the  development  of  antipathic 
sexuality. 

Congenital  Antipathic  Sexual  Instinct  in  Man. 

The  sexual  acts  by  means  of  which  male  urnings  seek 
and  find  satisfaction  are  multifarious.  There  are  indi- 
viduals of  fine  feeling  and  strength  of  will  who  sometimes 
satisfy  themselves  with  platonic  love,  with  the  risk  how- 


CONGENITAL  ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT  IN  MAN.  351 

ever,  of  becoming  nervous  (neurasthenic)  and  insane  as  a 
result  of  this  enforced  abstinence.  In  other  instances,  for 
the  same  reasons  which  may  lead  normal  individuals  to 
avoid  coitus,  onanism,  faute  de  mieux,  is  indulged  in. 

In  urnings  with  nervous  systems  congenitally  irritable, 
or  injured  by  onanism  (irritable  weakness  of  the  ejacu- 
lation centre),  simple  embraces  or  caresses,  with  or  without 
contact  of  the  genitals,  are  sufficient  to  induce  ejaculation 
and  consequent  satisfaction.  In  less  irritable  individuals, 
the  sexual  act  consists  of  manustupration  by  the  loved 
person,  or  mutual  onanism,  or  imitation  of  coitus  between 
the  thighs.  In  urnings  morally  perverse  and  potent,  quoad 
erectionem,  the  sexual  desire  is  satisfied  by  pederasty, — an 
act,  however,  which  is  repugnant  to  perverted  individuals 
that  are  not  defective  morally,  much  in  the  same  way  as 
it  is  to  normal  men.  The  statement  of  urnings  is  remark- 
able, that  the  adequate  sexual  act  with  persons  of  the 
same  sex  gives  them  a  feeling  of  great  satisfaction  and 
accession  of  strength,  while  satisfaction  by  solitary  onan- 
ism, or  by  enforced  coitus  with  a  woman,  affects  them  in 
an  unfavourable  way,  making  them  miserable  and  increas- 
ing their  neurasthenic  symptoms. 

As  to  the  frequency^  of  the  occurrence  of  the  anomaly, 
it  is  diflficult  to  reach  a  just  conclusion,  -since  those  affected 
with  it  not  often  break  from  their  reserve;  and  in  criminal 
cases  the  urning  with  perversion  of  sexual  instinct  is  usual- 
ly classed  with  the  person  given  to  pederasty  for  simply 
vicious  reasons.  According  to  Casper  s  and  Tardieus,  as 
well  as  my  own,  experience,  this  anomaly  is  much  more 
frequent  than  reported  cases  would  lead  us  to  presume, 

*  That  inversion  of  the  sexual  instinct  is  not  uncommon  ia 
proved,  among  other  things,  by  the  circumstances  that  it  is  frequently 
the  subject  in  novels.  The  neuropathic  foundation  of  this  sexual 
perversion  does  not  escape  the  writers.  This  theme  is  treated  in 
German  literature  in  "  Fridolin's  heimliche  Ehe,"  by  Wilhrcmd;  in 
"  Brick-a-Brack  oder  Licht  im  Schatten,"  by  Emerich  Graf  Stadion; 
also  by  Balduin  Oroller,  "  Prinz  Klotz."  The  oldest  urning  romance 
is  probably  that  published  by  Petronius  at  Rome,  under  the  Empire, 
imder  the  title  "  Satyricon." 


352 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Ulrichs  ('"'Kritische  Pfeile/'  p.  2,  1880)  declares  that, 
on  an  average,  there  is  one  person  affected  with  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  to  every  200  mature  men,  or  to  every  800  of 
the  population;  and  that  the  percentage  among  the  Mag- 
yars  and  South  Slavs  is  still  greater, — ^statements  which 
may  be  regarded  as  untrustworthy.  The  subject  of  one 
of  my  cases  knows  personally,  at  his  home  (13,000  inhab- 
itants), fourteen  urnings.  He  further  declares  that  he  is 
acquainted  with  at  least  eighty  in  a  city  of  60,000  inhabi- 
tants. It  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  man,  otherwise 
worthy  of  belief,  makes  no  distinction  between  the  congen- 
ital and  the  acquired  anomaly. 

1.  Psychical  Hermaphroditism.^ 

The  characteristic  mark  of  this  degree  of  inversion  of 
the  sexual  instinct  is  that,  by  the  side  of  the  pronounced 
sexual  instinct  and  desire  for  the  same  sex,  a  desire  toward 
the  opposite  sex  is  present;  but  the  latter  is  much  weaker 
and  is  manifested  episodically  only,  while  homo-sexuality 
is  primary,  and,  in  time  and  intensity,  forms  the  most  strik- 
ing feature  of  the  vita  sexualis. 

The  hetero-sexual  instinct  may  be  but  rudimentary, 
manifesting  itself  simply  in  unconscious  (dream)  life;  or 
(episodically,  at  least)  it  may  be  powerfully  exhibited. 

The  sexual  instinct  toward  the  opposite  sex  may  be 
strengthened  by  the  exercise  of  will  and  self-control;  by 
moral  treatment,  and  possibly  by  hypnotic  suggestion;  by 
improvement  of  the  constitution  and  the  removal  of 
neuroses  (neurasthenia)  ;  but  especially  by  abstinence  from 
masturbation. 

However,  there  is  always  the  danger  that  homo-sexual 
feelings,  in  that  they  are  the  most  powerful,  may  become 
permanent,  and  lead  to  enduring  and  exclusive  antipathic 

*  Cf,  author's  work,  "  Ueber  psychosexualea  Zwitterthum,"  in 
the  *'  Internationales  Centralblatt  f .  d.  Physiologie  u.  Pathologie  der 
Harn-  und  Sexualorgane/*  Bd.  i..  Heft  2. 


PSYCHICAL  HEEMAPHEODITISM. 


353 


sexual  instinct.  This  is  especially  to  be  feared  as  a  result 
of  the  influences  of  masturbation  (just  as  in  acquired  in- 
version of  the  sexual  instinct)  and  its  neurasthenia  and 
consequent  exacerbations;  and,  further,  it  is  to  be  found 
as  a  consequence  of  unfavourable  experiences  in  sexual 
intercourse  with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex  (defective  feel- 
ing of  pleasure  in  coitus,  failure  in  coitus  on  account  of 
weakness  of  erection  and  premature  ejaculation,  infection). 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  that  aesthetic  and 
ethical  sympathy  with  persons  of  the  opposite  sex  may 
favour  the  development  of  hetero-sexual  desires.  Thus 
it  happens  that  the  individual,  according  to  the  predomi- 
nance of  favourable  or  unfavourable  influences,  experiences 
now  hetero-sexual,  now  homo-sexual,  feeling. 

It  seems  to  me  probable  that  such  hermaphrodites 
from  constitutional  taint  are  rather  numerous.^  Since  they 
attract  very  little  attention  socially,  and  since  such  secrets 
of  married  life  are  only  exceptionally  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  physician,  it  is  at  once  apparent  why  this  in- 
teresting and  practically  important  transitional  group  to 
the  group  of  absolute  inverted  sexuality  has  thus  far 
escaped  scientific  investigation. 

Many  cases  of  frigiditas  uxoris  and  mariti  may  possibly 
depend  upon  this  anomaly.  Sexual  intercourse  with  the 
opposite  sex  is,  in  itself,  possible.  At  any  rate,  in  cases 
of  this  degree,  no  horror  sexus  alterius  exists.  Here  is  a 
fertile  field  for  the  application  of  medical  and  moral  thera- 
peutics (v,  infra). 

The  differential  diagnosis  from  acquired  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  may  present  difficulties ;  for,  in  such  cases, 
so  long  as  the  vestiges  of  a  normal  sexual  instinct  are  not 
absolutely  lost,  the  actual  symptoms  are  the  same  (v. 
infra). 

In  the  first  degree,  the  sexual  satisfaction  of  homo- 

*This  idea  is  supported  by  the  statements  of  an  unmarried 
urning,  which  Dr.  Moll,  of  Berlin,  kindly  communicated  to  me.  He 
could  report  a  number  of  cases  of  his  acquaintance,  in  which  married 
men  had  also  "  relations  "  with  men. 

92 


354 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sexual  impulses  consists  in  passive  and  mutual  onanism  and 
coitus  inter  femora. 

Case  134.  Antipathic  sexual  instinct  with  sexual  sat- 
isfaction in  heterosexual  intercourse.  Mr.  Z.,  aged  thirty- 
six,  consulted  me  on  account  of  an  anomaly  of  his  sexual 
feelings,  which  had  become  a  matter  of  anxiety  to  him 
in  connection  with  an  intended  marriage.  Patient's  father 
was  neuropathic,  and  suffered  with  nightmare  and  night- 
terrors.  Grandfather  was  also  neuropathic;  father's 
brother  an  idiot.  Patient's  mother  and  her  family  were 
healthy  and  normal  mentally.  The  patient  had  three 
sisters  and  one  brother,  the  latter  being  subject  to  moral 
insanity.  Two  sisters  were  healthy,  and  enjoying  happy 
married  lives. 

As  a  child,  the  patient  was  weak,  nervous,  and  subject 
to  night-terrors,  like  his  father;  but  he  never  had  any 
severe  illness,  except  coxitis,  as  a  result  of  v/hich  he  limped 
slightly.  Sexual  impulses  were  manifested  early.  At 
eight,  without  any  teaching,  he  began  to  masturbate. 
From  his  fourteenth  year,  ejaculation.  He  was  mentally 
well  endowed,  and  his  principal  interest  was  in  art  and 
literature.  He  was  always  weak  muscularly,  and  had  no 
inclination  for  boyish  sports  and  later  for  manly  occupa- 
tions. He  had  a  certain  interest  for  female  toilettes,  orna- 
ments, and  occupations.  From  the  time  of  puberty  the 
patient  noticed  in  himself  an  inexplicable  inclination 
toward  male  persons.  Youths  of  the  lowest  classes  were 
most  attractive  to  him.  Cavalry  men  especially  excited 
his  interest.  He  experienced  a  lustful  desire  to  press  him- 
self against  such  individuals  from  behind.  Occasionally, 
in  crowds,  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do  this ;  and  in  such 
an  event  an  intense  feeling  of  pleasure  passed  over  him. 
After  his  twenty-second  year,  on  such  occasions,  he  now 
and  then  had  an  ejaculation.  From  that  time  ejaculation 
occurred  when  a  sympathetic  man  laid  his  hand  on  the 
patient's  thigh.  He  was  now  in  great  anxiety  lest  he 
might  fiometime  assault  a  man  sexually.    People  of  the 


PSYCHICAL  HEKMAPHRODITISM, 


35S 


lower  classes,  wearing  tight,  brown  trousers,  were  espec- 
ially dangerous  for  him.  His  greatest  pleasure  would  be 
to  embrace  such  a  man  and  press  himself  to  him;  but, 
unfortunately,  the  morality  of  his  country  did  not  allow 
such  a  thing.   Pederasty  seemed  disgusting  to  him. 

It  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  gain  a  sight  of  the  gen- 
itals of  males.  He  was  always  compelled  to  look  at  the 
genitals  of  every  man  he  met.  In  circuses,  theatres,  etc., 
only  male  performers  interested  him.  Patient  had  never 
noticed  any  inclination  for  women.  He  did  not  avoid 
them,  even  danced  with  them  on  occasion,  but  he  never 
felt  the  slightesli  sensual  excitation  under  such  circum- 
stances. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  the  patient  was  neuras- 
thenic as  a  result  of  his  excessive  masturbation. 

Then  frequent  pollutions  in  sleep  occurred,  which 
weakened  him  very  much.  It  was  only  occasionally  that 
he  dreamed  of  men  when  he  had  pollutions;  and  never 
of  women.  A  lascivious  dream-picture  (pederasty)  had 
occurred  but  once.  He  dreamed  of  death-scenes,  of  being 
attacked  by  dogs,  etc.  After  these,  as  before,  he  suffered 
with  great  libido  sexualis.  Often  there  came  up  before 
him  such  lascivious  thoughts  as  gloating  over  the  death  of 
animals  in  the  slaughter-house,  or  allowing  himself  to  be 
whipped  by  boys;  but  he  always  overcame  such  desires, 
and  also  the  impulse  to  dress  in  a  military  uniform. 

In  order  to  cure  himself  of  masturbation,  and  to  thor- 
oughly satisfy  his  libido,  he  determined  to  frequent  broth- 
els. He  first  attempted  sexual  intercourse  with  a  woman 
when  twenty-one,  after  over-indulgence  in  wine.  The 
beauty  of  the  female  form,  and  female  nudity  in  general, 
made  no  impression  on  him.  However,  he  was  able  to 
enjoy  the  act  of  coitus,  and  thereafter  he  visited  brothels 
regularly  for  "purposes  of  health." 

From  this  time  he  took  great  pleasure  in  hearing  men 
tell  stories  of  their  sexual  relations  with  the  opposite  sex. 

Ideas  of  flagellation  would  also  come  to  him  while  in 
a  brothel,  but  the  retention  of  such  fancies  was  not  essen- 


356 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


tial  for  the  performance  of  coitus.  He  considered  sexual 
intercourse  with  prostitutes  only  a  remedy  against  the  de- 
sire for  masturbation  and  men, — a  kind  of  safety-valve  to 
prevent  compromising  himself  with  some  man. 

The  patient  wished  to  marry,  but  feared  not  only  that 
he  could  have  no  love  for  a  decent  woman,  but  also  that 
he  might  be  impotent  for  intercourse  with  her.  Hence 
his  thought  and  need  of  medical  advice. 

The  patient  was  very  intelligent,  and,  in  all  respects, 
was  of  masculine  appearance.  In  dress  and  manner  he  pre- 
sented nothing  that  would  attract  attention.  Gait,  voice 
and  frame, — the  pelvis  especially, — masculine  in  character. 
Genitals  of  normal  development.  The  normal  growth 
of  hair  for  a  male  was  abundant.  The  patient's  relatives 
and  friends  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of  his  sexual 
anomalies.  In  his  inverted  sexual  fancies  he  had  never 
felt  himself  in  the  role  of  a  woman  toward  a  man.  For 
some  years  he  had  been  entirely  free  from  neurasthenic 
troubles. 

The  question  as  to  whether  he  considered  himself  a 
subject  of  congenital  sexual  inversion  he  could  not  answer. 
It  seems  probable  that  there  was  a  congenital  weak  inclina- 
tion for  the  opposite  sex,  with  a  greater  one  for  the  same 
sex,  which,  as  a  result  of  early  masturbation  in  conse- 
quence of  the  homo-sexual  instinct,  was  still  more  weak- 
ened, but  not  reduced  to  nil.  With  the  cessation  of  mas- 
turbation, the  feeling  for  women  became  in  a  measure 
more  natural,  but  only  in  a  coarsely  sensual  way. 

Since  the  patient  explained  that,  for  reasons  of  family 
and  business,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  marry,  it  was 
impossible  to  eliminate  this  delicate  point. 

Fortunately,  the  patient  confined  himself  to  the  ques- 
tion as  to  his  virility  as  a  husband;  and  it  was  necessary 
to  reply  that  he  was  virile,  and  that  he  would  probably  be 
so  in  conjugal  intercourse  with  the  wife  of  his  choice, — 
at  least,  if  she  were  to  be  in  mental  sympathy  with  him; 
moreover  that  be  could  at  all  times  improve  his  power  by 
exercising  his  imagination  in  the  right  direction. 


PSYCHICAL  HEEMAPHKODITISM. 


357 


The  main  object  was  to  strengthen  the  sexual  inclina- 
tion for  the  opposite  sex,  which  was  defective,  but  not  ab- 
solutely wanting.  This  could  be  done  by  avoiding  and 
opposing  all  homo-sexual  feelings  and  impulses,  possibly 
with  the  help  of  the  artificial  inhibitory  influences  of  hyp- 
notic suggestion,  (removal  of  homo-sexual  desires  by  sug- 
gestion) ;  by  the  excitation  and  exercise  of  normal  sexual 
desires  and  impulses;  by  complete  abstinence  from  mas- 
turbation, and  eradication  of  the  remnants  of  the  neuras- 
thenic condition  of  the  nervous  system  by  means  of  hydro- 
therapy, and  possibly  general  faradisation. 

Case  135.  Y.,  age  twenty-nine,  official;  father  hypo- 
chondriac, mother  neuropathic;  four  other  children  nor- 
mal; one  sister  homo-sexual. 

V.  was  very  talented,  learned  easily  and  had  a  most 
excellent  religious  education.  Very  nervous  and  emo- 
tional. At  the  age  of  nine  he  began  to  masturbate  of  his 
own  accord.  When  fourteen  he  recognised  the  danger 
of  this  practice  and  fought  with  some  success  against  it; 
but  he  began  to  rave  about  male  statuary,  also  about  young 
men.  When  puberty  set  in,  he  took  slight  interest  in 
women.  At  twenty,  first  coitus  cum  muliere,  but  though 
potent,  he  derived  no  satisfaction  from  it.  Afterwards 
only  faute  de  mieux  (about  six  times)  hetero-sexual  inter- 
course. 

He  admitted  to  have  had  very  frequently  intercourse 
with  men  (masturbatio  mutua,  coitus  inter  femora,  inter- 
dum  in  os).   He  took  either  the  active  or  passive  role. 

At  the  consultation  he  was  in  despair  and  wept  bitterly. 
He  abhorred  his  sexual  anomaly,  and  said  that  he  had  des- 
perately battled  against  it,  but  without  success.  In  woman 
he  found  only  moderate  animal  satisfaction,  psychical 
gratification  being  totally  absent.  Yet  he  craved  for  the 
happiness  of  family  life. 

Excepting  an  abnormally  broad  pelvis  (100  cm.)  there 
was  nothing  in  his  character  or  personal  appearance  that 
lacked  the  qualities  of  the  masculine  type. 


358 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  136.  K.,  age  30 ;  in  the  family  on  his  mother's 
side  there  were  several  eases  of  insanity. 

Both  parents  were  neurasthenic,  irritable  and  excitable, 
and  lived  unhappily  together. 

K.  had  from  his  early  childhood  sympathy  only  for 
men,  chiefly  for  male  servants. 

Pollutions  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  often  coupled  with 
homo-sexual  dreams. 

Descriptions  of  bullfights  and  tortures  of  animals 
greatly  excited  him  sexually. 

When  fifteen  he  began,  of  his  own  accord,  auto-mas- 
tui^bation.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  homo-sexual  inter- 
course with  men  (only  mutual  masturbation).  Off  and  on 
psychical  onanism  associated  with  thoughts  of  men. 

His  inclinations  to  women  were  of  a  transient  nature. 
"When  pressed  to  enter  wedlock  he  could  not  decide  in  its 
favour. 

He  never  had  coitus  cum  muliere  partly  because  he 
had  no  confidence  in  his  virility,  and  partly  from  fear  of 
infection. 

For  years  he  was  highly  neurasthenic,  which  rendered 
him  for  whole  periods  psychically  unfit  for  any  kind  of 
work.  He  was  listless  and  devoid  of  energy,  but  in  struc- 
ture and  personal  appearance  masculine.    Genitals  normal. 

Advice:  Treatment  for  neurasthenia,  energetic  combat 
with  homo-sexual  desires,  society  of  ladies,  eventually  coi- 
tus condomatus.  Wedlock,  when  suited,  as  his  station  in 
life  demanded  it. 

After  four  months  K.  returned.  He  had  conscien- 
tiously acted  upon  the  medical  advice,  was  successful  in 
coitus,  dreamed  of  women,  disdained  the  idea  of  sexual 
relations  with  men,  but  during  the  heated  season  still  ex- 
perienced homo-sexual  impulses  (due  to  exacerbation  of 
neurasthenia,  superinduced  by  the  hot  weather). 

He  hoped  to  marry  at  an  early  date,  and  anticipated 
much  happiness  from  the  married  state. 

Case  137.  Psychical  Tiermapliroditism,  Hetero-sex- 


PSYCHICAL  HERMAPHRODITISM. 


359 


ual  feeling  early  interfered  with  by  masturbation,  but  epi- 
sodically very  intense.  Homo-sexual  feeling  ab  origine 
perverse  (sexual  excitation  by  men's  boots). 

Mr.  X.,  of  higli  social  position,  aged  twenty-eight,  came 
to  me  in  September,  1887,  in  a  despairing  mood,  to  con- 
sult me  on  account  of  a  perversion  of  his  vita  sexualis, 
which  made  life  seem  almost  unbearable  to  him,  and  which 
had  repeatedly  brought  him  near  to  suicide.  The  patient 
came  of  a  family  in  which  neuroses  and  psychoses  had  been 
of  frequent  occurrence.  In  the  father's  family  there  had 
been  marriage  between  first  cousins  for  three  generations. 
The  father  was  said  to  have  been  a  healthy  man,  and  to 
have  lived  morally  in  marriage.  However,  his  father's 
preference  for  fine-looking  servants  seemed  remarkable  to 
the  son.  The  mother's  family  was  described  as  eccentric. 
The  mother's  grandfather  and  great-grandfather  died  mel- 
ancholic; her  sister  was  insane;  a  daughter  of  the  grand- 
father's brother  was  hysterical,  and  had  nymphomania. 
Only  three  of  the  mother's  twelve  brothers  and  sisters 
married.  Of  these,  one  brother  was  homo-sexual,  and  al- 
ways nervous  as  a  result  of  excessive  masturbation.  The 
patient's  mother  was  said  to  have  been  a  bigot  of  small 
mental  endowment,  nervous,  irritable,  and  inclined  to  mel- 
ancholia. 

Patient  had  a  sister  and  a  brother.  The  brother  was 
neuropathic  and  frequently  melancholic;  and,  though 
mature  had  never  shown  the  slightest  trace  of  sexual 
inclinations.  The  sister  was  an  acknowledged  beauty,  and 
much  sought  by  gentlemen.  This  lady  was  married,  but 
childless,  as  reported,  owing  to  the  impotence  of  her  hus- 
band. She  had  always  been  indifferent  to  the  attentions 
shown  her  by  men,  but  was  charmed  by  female  beauty, 
and  actually  in  love  with  some  of  her  female  friends. 

With  respect  to  himself,  the  patient  asserted  that  when 
four  years  old  he  dreamed  of  handsome  jockeys  wearing 
shining  boots.  He  never  dreamed  of  women  when  he  grew 
older.  His  nightly  pollutions  were  always  induced  by 
^^boot-dreams".    From  his  fourth  year  he  had  a  peculiar 


360 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


partiality  for  men,  or,  more  correctly,  for  lackeys  wearing 
shining  boots.  At  first  they  only  excited  his  interest,  but 
with  development  of  his  sexual  functions,  the  sight  of 
them  caused  powerful  erections  and  lustful  pleasure.  It 
was  only  servants'  boots  that  affected  him;  the  same  kind 
of  boots  on  persons  of  like  social  station  were  without 
effect  on  him.  In  a  homo-sexual  sense,  there  was  no  sexual 
impulse  connected  with  these  situations.  Even  the  thought 
of  such  a  possibility  was  disgusting  to  him.  At  times,  how- 
ever, he  had  sensually  coloured  ideas^ — such  as  being  his 
servant's  servant,  and  drawing  off  his  boots;  the  idea  of 
being  stepped  on  by  him,  or  of  having  to  blacken  his  boots, 
was  most  pleasing.  The  pride  of  the  aristocrat  rose  up 
against  such  thoughts.  In  general,  these  notions  about 
boots  were  disgusting  and  painful  to  him. 

Sexual  instinct  was  early  and  powerfully  developed. 
It  first  found  expression  in  indulgence  in  sensual  thoughts 
about  boots,  and,  after  puberty,  in  dreams  accompanied  by 
pollutions;  otherwise,  mental  and  physical  development 
was  undisturbed.  Patient  was  well  endowed  mentally — 
learned  easily,  finished  his  studies,  and  became  an  officer. 
On  account  of  his  distinguished,  manly  appearance  and 
his  high  position,  he  was  much  sought  in  society. 

He  characterised  himself  as  a  clever,  quiet,  strong- 
willed,  but  superficial  man.  He  asserted  that  he  was  a 
passionate  hunter  and  rider,  and  that  he  had  never  had 
any  inclination  for  feminine  pursuits.  In  the  society  of 
ladies  he  had  always  been  reserved;  dancing  always  tired 
him.  He  never  had  an  interest  in  any  lady  of  high  social 
position.  As  for  women,  only  the  buxom  peasant  girls, 
such  as  are  the  models  of  painters  in  Rome,  had  taken 
fancy.  He  had,  however,  never  felt  any  sexual  interest 
even  in  such  representatives  of  the  female  sex.  At  the 
theatre  and  circus  only  male  performers  had  attracted  him ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  they  caused  him  no  sensual  feelings 
As  for  men,  only  their  boots  excited  him,  and,  indeed, 
only  when  the  wearers  belonged  to  the  servant  class  and 


PSYCHICAL  HERMAPHRODITISM. 


361 


were  handsome  men.  Men  of  his  own  position,  wearing 
ever  so  fine  boots,  were  absolutely  indifferent  to  him. 

With  reference  to  his  sexual  inclinations,  the  patient 
was  still  uncertain  whether  he  felt  these  more  toward  the 
opposite  sex  or  his  own.  He  was  inclined  to  think  that 
originally  he  had  more  inclination  for  women,  but  that  this 
sympathy  was,  in  any  case,  very  weak.  He  stated  with 
certainty  that  the  sight  of  a  naked  man  made  no  impres- 
sion on  him,  and  that  the  sight  of  male  genitals  was  even 
repugnant  to  him.  As  for  woman,  this  was  not  exactly  the 
case;  but  even  the  most  beautiful  feminine  form  did  not 
excite  him  sexually.  "When  a  young  officer,  he  was  now 
and  then  compelled  to  accompany  his  comrades  to  brothels. 
He  was  the  more  easily  persuaded  to  this,  since  he  hoped 
by  this  means  to  get  rid  of  his  vile  partiality  for  boots; 
but  he  was  impotent  unless  he  brought  the  thought  of 
boots  to  his  aid.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  act  of 
cohabitation  was  normally  performed,  but  without  pleasur- 
able feeling.  Patient  felt  no  impulse  to  intercourse  with 
women,  always  requiring  some  external  cause — i.e.,  per- 
suasion. Left  to  himself  his  vita  sexualis  consisted  in  rev- 
elling in  ideas  about  boots,  and  in  corresponding  dreams 
coupled  with  pollutions.  As  the  impulse  to  kiss  his  ser- 
vant's boots,  to  draw  them  off,  etc.,  became  more  and  more 
connected  with  these  dreams  and  ideas  the  patient  deter- 
mined to  use  every  means  to  rid  himself  of  this  disgust- 
ing desire,  which  deeply  wounded  his  pride.  At  that  time, 
being  in  his  twentieth  year,  and  in  Paris,  he  recalled  a 
very  beautiful  peasant  girl,  w^ho  lived  in  his  distant  home. 
He  hoped,  with  her  assistance,  to  free  himself  of  his  sexual 
perversion.  He  went  home,  and  tried  to  win  the  girl's 
favour.  He  asserted  that  at  that  time  he  was  deeply  in 
love  with  this  person,  and  that  the  sight  of  her,  or  the 
touch  of  her  dress,  gave  him  sensual  pleasure;  and,  when 
she  once  kissed  him,  he  had  a  powerful  erection.  After 
about  a  year  and  a  half,  the  patient  succeeded  in  gaining 
his  desires  with  this  person. 


362 


PSYCHOPATIIIA  SEXUALIS. 


He  was  potent,  but  ejaculated  tardily  (ten  to  twenty 
minutes),  and  never  had  a  pleasurable  feeling  in  the  act. 

After  about  a  year  and  a  half  of  sexual  intercourse 
with  this  girl,  his  love  for  her  grew  cold,  because  he  did 
not  find  her  so  ^^fine  and  pure''  as  he  wished.  From  this 
time  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  call  upon  ideas  about  boots 
for  help,  which  had  been  latent,  in  order  to  be  potent  in 
sexual  intercourse  with  her.  In  proportion  as  his  power 
failed,  these  ideas  arose  spontaneously.  Thereafter  he  had 
coitus  with  other  women,  l^ow  and  then,  especially  when 
the  woman  was  in  sympathy  with  him,  the  act  took  place 
without  any  assistance  of  imagination. 

It  once  happened  that  the  patient  committed  rape. 
It  is  remarkable  that  on  this  single  occasion  he  had  a  pleas- 
urable feeling  in  the  (forced)  act.  Immediately  after  the 
deed  he  had  a  feeling  of  disgust.  When,  an  hour  after  the 
forced  indulgence,  he  had  coitus  with  the  same  woman, 
with  her  consent,  he  experienced  no  feeling  of  pleasure. 

With  the  decline  of  virility — i,e.^  when  it  was  main- 
tained only  with  ideas  about  boots — libido  for  the  opposite 
sex  decreased.  The  patient's  slight  libido  and  weak  in- 
clination for  women  were  evidenced  by  the  fact  that,  while 
he  still  sustained  sexual  relations  with  the  peasant  girl, 
he  began  to  masturbate.  He  learned  the  vice  from 
^^Rousseau's  Confessions,"  the  book  accidentally  falling 
into  his  hands.  The  boot-fancies  immediately  linked  them- 
selves with  corresponding  impulses.  He  then  had  violent 
erections,  masturbated,  and  ejaculation  afforded  him  a 
lively  feeling  of  pleasure,  which  was  denied  to  him  in 
coitus;  and  at  first  he  felt  himself  mentally  brighter  and 
fresher,  as  a  result  of  masturbation. 

In  time,  however,  symptoms  of  sexual,  and  later  on  of 
general  neurasthenia,  with  spinal  irritation,  appeared.  He 
then  temporarily  gave  up  masturbation,  and  sought  his 
first  love;  but  she  was  now  more  than  ever  indifferent  to 
him.  Since  he  finally  became  impotent,  even  when  he 
called  ideas  of  boots  to  his  assistance,  he  gave  up  women 
entirely,  and  again  practised  masturbation,  which  pro- 


PSYCHICAL  HERMAPHRODITISM. 


363 


tected  him  from  the  impulse  to  kiss  and  blacken,  etc.,  ser- 
vants' boots.  At  the  same  time,  he  felt  his  sexual  position 
keenly.  He  again  occasionally  attempted  coitus,  and  was 
successful  in  it  as  soon  as  he  thought  of  blackened  boots. 
After  continued  abstinence  from  masturbation,  he  was  at 
times  successful  in  coitus  without  any  artificial  aid. 

The  patient  said  that  his  sexual  needs  were  intense. 
If  no  ejaculation  had  taken  place  for  a  long  time,  he  be- 
came congestive,  psychically  much  excited,  and  tormented 
by  repugnant  images  of  boots,  so  that  he  was  forced  to 
have  coitus,  or,  preferably,  to  masturbate. 

During  the  past  year  his  moral  position  became  most 
painfully  complicated  by  the  fact  that,  as  the  last  of  a 
wealthy  line  of  high  position,  and  at  the  importunate  de- 
sire of  his  parents,  he  must  marry.  The  bride  was  of  rare 
beauty,  and  mentally  in  perfect  sympathy  with  him;  but, 
as  a  woman,  she  was  as  indifferent  to  him  as  any  other, 
^sthetically  she  satisfied  him  ^^as  any  work  of  art  would" ; 
in  his  eyes,  she  was  simply  ideal.  To  honour  her  in  a 
platonic  way  wwld  be  happiness  worth  striving  for;  but 
to  possess  her  as  a  wife  was  a  painful  thought.  He  was 
certain  beforehand  that  with  her  he  would  be  impotent, 
save  with  the  help  of  ideas  of  boots.  To  use  such  means, 
however,  was  in  opposition  to  his  respect  and  his  moral 
and  aesthetic  feelings  for  the  lady.  Were  he  to  soil  her 
with  such  thoughts,  she  would  lose,  in  his  eyes,  all  her 
aesthetic  value;  and  then  he  would  become  impotent  for 
her,  and  she  would  become  repugnant  to  him.  The  patient 
considered  his  position  one  of  despair,  and  confessed  that 
he  had  of  late  been  repeatedly  near  suicide. 

He  was  a  man  of  much  intelligence,  and  decidedly  of 
masculine  appearance,  with  abundant  growth  of  beard, 
deep  voice,  and  normal  genitals.  The  eye  had  a  neuro- 
pathic expression.  'No  signs  of  degeneration.  Symptoms 
of  spinal  neurasthenia.  It  was  possible  to  reassure  the 
patient,  and  give  him  hope  of  his  future. 

The  medical  advice  consisted  in  means  for  combating 
the  neurasthenia,  and  the  interdiction  of  masturbation  and 


864 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


indulgence  of  the  fancy  in  images  of  boots,  in  tlie  hope 
that,  with  the  removal  of  the  neurasthenia,  cohabitation 
without  ideas  of  boots  would  become  possible ;  and  that,  in 
time,  the  patient  would  become  morally  and  physically 
capable  of  marriage. 

In  the  latter  part  of  October,  1888,  the  patient  wrote 
to  me  that  he  had  resolutely  resisted  masturbation  and  his 
imagination.  In  the  interval  he  had  had  but  one  dream 
about  boots,  and  scarcely  a  pollution.  He  had  been  free 
from  homo-sexual  inclinations,  but,  in  spite  of  this,  there 
was  often  considerable  sexual  excitement,  without  any- 
thing like  adequate  libido  for  woman.  In  this  deplorable 
situation,  he  was  now  compelled  by  circumstances  to  marry 
in  three  months. 

2.  Homo-Scxua!  Individuals,  or  Urnings. 

In  contradistinction  from  the  preceding  group  of 
psycho-sexual  hermaphrodites,  there  are  here  predominant, 
ab  origine,  sexual  desires  and  inclinations  for  persons  of 
the  same  sex  exclusively;  but,  in  contrast  with  the  follow- 
ing group,  the  anomaly  is  limited  to  the  vita  sexualis,  and 
does  not  more  deeply  and  seriously  affect  character  and 
mental  personality. 

The  vita  sexualis  of  these  urnings,  mutatis  mutandis^ 
is  entirely  like  that  in  normal  hetero-sexual  love ;  but,  since 
it  is  the  exact  opposite  of  the  natural  feeling,  it  becomes 
a  caricature,  and  the  more  so  as  these  individuals,  at  the 
same  time,  and  as  a  rule,  are  subject  to  hypercesthesia  sex- 
ualis; for  which  reason,  their  love  for  their  own  sex  is 
emotional  and  passionate. 

The  urning  loves  and  deifies  the  male  object  of  his 
affections,  just  as  the  normal  man  idealises  the  woman  he 
loves.  He  is  capable  of  the  greatest  sacrifice  for  him,  and 
experiences  the  pangs  of  unhappy,  often  unrequited,  love ; 
he  suffers  from  the  disloyalty  of  the  beloved  object,  and 
is  subject  to  jealousy,  etc. 

The  attention  of  the  male-loving  man  is  given  only  to 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


365 


male  dancers,  actors,  athletes,  statues,  etc.  The  sight  o£ 
female  charms  is  indifferent  to  him,  if  not  repulsive.  A 
naked  woman  is  disgusting  to  him,  while  the  sight  of  male 
genitals,  hips,  etc.,  affords  him  infinite  pleasure. 

Bodily  contact  with  a  sympathetic  man  induces  a  thrill 
of  delight;  and,  since  such  individuals  are  in  most  cases 
sexually  neurasthenic  (congenitally  or  from  onanism  or 
enforced  abstinence  from  sexual  intercourse),  under  such 
circumstances  ejaculation  is  very  easily  induced,  which 
even  in  the  most  intimate  intercourse  with  women  cannot 
be  induced  at  all,  or  only  by  mechanical  means.  The 
sexual  act  with  a  man,  in  many  instances,  affords  pleasure, 
and  leaves  behind  a  feeling  of  comfort.  Should  the  urning 
be  able  to  force  himself  to  coitus,  in  which,  as  a  rule,  dis- 
gust has  the  effect  of  an  inhibitory  character,  and  makes 
the  act  possible,  then  his  feeling  is  something  like  that 
of  a  man  compelled  to  take  disgusting  food  or  drink.  How- 
ever, experience  teaches  that  not  infrequently  urnings  be- 
longing to  this  group  marry,  either  from  ethical  or  social 
considerations. 

Such  unfortunates  are  relatively  potent,  in  so  far  that 
in  marital  intercourse  they  incite  their  imagination,  and, 
instead  of  thinking  of  their  wives,  they  call  up  the  image 
of  some  loved  male  person.  But  for  them  coitus  is  a  great 
sacrifice,  and  no  pleasure.  It  makes  them,  for  days  after, 
nervous  and  miserable.  If  such  urnings,  by  means  of 
powerful  stimulation  of  their  fancy,  or  under  the  influence 
of  alcoholic  drink,  or  by  erections  induced  by  an  overfilled 
bladder,  etc.,  are  not  enabled  to  overcome  the  inhibitory 
feelings  and  ideas,  then  they  are  entirely  impotent ;  while 
the  mere  touch  of  a  man  may  induce  intense  erection,  and 
even  ejaculation. 

Dancing  with  a  woman  is  unpleasant  to  an  urning, 
but  to  dance  with  a  man,  especially  one  with  an  attractive 
form,  is  to  him  the  greatest  of  pleasures. 

The  male  urning,  if  he  possess  higher  culture,  is  not 
opposed  to  non-sexual  intercourse  with  woman,  when  by 


366 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


mind  and  refinement  they  make  conversation  charming. 
It  is  only  woman  in  her  sexual  role  that  he  abhors. 

In  this  degree  of  sexual  degeneration,  character  and 
occupation  correspond  with  the  sex  which  the  individual 
represents.  Sexual  perversion  remains  an  isolated  anom- 
aly of  the  mental  being  of  the  individual^  deeply  affecting 
the  social  existence.  In  accjrdance  with  this,  these  indi- 
viduals feel  themselves  during  the  sexual  act  in  the  same 
role  which  would  naturally  be  theirs  in  hetero-sexual  inter- 
course. 

However,  transitions  to  group  3  occur,  inasmuch  as 
sometimes  the  passive  role  which  corresponds  with  homo- 
sexual feeling  is  thought  of  or  desired,  or  at  least  forms 
the  subject  of  dreams.  Moreover,  leanings  to  occupations 
and  tendencies  of  taste  are  manifested  which  do  not  cor- 
respond with  the  sex  of  the  individual.  In  many  cases 
one  gets  the  impression  that  such  symptoms  are  artificial, 
the  result  of  educational  influences;  in  other  cases,  that 
they  represent  deeper  acquired  degenerations  of  the  orig- 
inal anomaly,  superinduced  by  perverse  sexual  activity 
(masturbation),  and  analogous  to  the  signs  of  progressive 
degeneration  observed  in  acquired  sexual  inversion. 

Regarding  the  manner  of  sexual  satisfaction,  it  must 
be  stated  that  with  many  male  urnings,  the  mere  embrace 
is  sufficient  to  induce  ejaculation,  subject  as  they  are  to 
irritable  weakness  of  the  sexual  apparatus.  In  cases  of 
sexual  hypersBsthesia,  and  of  parsesthesia  of  the  moral 
sense,  great  pleasure  is  afforded  by  intercourse  with  persons 
of  the  lowest  condition. 

On  the  same  basis,  desire  to  commit  pederasty  (active, 
of  cou.rse)  and  other  similar  aberrations  occur,  though  it 
is  but  seldom,  and  apparently  only  in  cases  of  moral  defect 
and  by  reason  of  libido  r)iimia  in  individuals  especially 
passionate,  that  active  pederasty  is  indulged  in. 

The  sexual  desire  of  mature  urnings,  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  old  and  decrepit  debauchees^  who  prefer  boys  (and 
indulge  in  pederasty  by  preference) ,  seems  never  to  be 
directed  to  imrnature  males.    Only  for  want  of  better 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


367 


material,  and  in  case  of  violent  passion,  does  the  urning 
become  dangerous  to  boys. 

Case  138.  Z.,  age  tliirty-six,  wholesale  merchant; 
parents  were  said  to  have  been  healthy ;  physical  and  men- 
tal development  normal;  irrelevant  children's  diseases;  at 
fourteen  onanism  of  his  own  accord;  began  to  rave  about 
boys  of  his  own  age  when  fifteen.  Never  took  the  slight- 
est notice  of  the  opposite  sex. 

At  twenty-four  he  went  for  the  first  time  to  a  brothel, 
but  took  to  flight  when  he  saw  the  nude  female  figure. 

At  twenty-five  sexual  intercourse  with  men  of  his  own 
stamp  (fervent  embraces  with  ejaculation,  at  times  mutual 
masturbation). 

For  business  reasons,  and  with  a  view  to  cure  his  abnor- 
mal passion,  he  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  a  lady 
endowed  with  many  physical  and  mental  charms.  By  the 
aid  of  imagination  (thinking  of  intercourse  with  a  hand- 
some young  man),  Z.  succeeded  in  being  potent  with  his 
wife,  whom  at  heart  he  loved  passionately.  This  strain, 
however,  superinduced  neurasthenia.  When  a  child  was 
born  he  gradually  withdrew  from  his  wife,  who  was  any- 
how endowed  with  a  frigid  nature,  chiefly  because  he  was 
haunted  by  the  fear  of  procreating  offspring  afflicted  with 
Jiis  own  anomaly. 

Homo-sexual  feelings  and  thoughts  began  to  sway  him 
again,  which  he  sought  to  eradicate  by  means  of  mastur- 
bation. 

He  fell  in  love  with  a  handsome  young  man,  but  over- 
came the  weakness  at  the  cost  of  his  own  health  as  the 
severe  struggle  brought  on  a  pronounced  attack  of  cerebral 
neurasthenia.  He  came  to  me  for  advice,  as  his  homo- 
sexual tendency  had  become  too  powerful  to  be  resisted  any 
longer.  He  was  afraid  that  his  secret  affliction  might  be 
discovered,  thus  rendering  his  position  in  society  impossi- 
ble. Like  many  of  his  fellow-sufferers  he  had  taken  to 
drink.    Although  he  found  that  alcohol  relieved  his  nerv- 


368 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


ous  disorders  (physical  weakness,  psychical  inertness  and 
depression),  his  libido  was  increased. 

Z.  was  a  man  of  refined  thought,  mentally  well  en- 
dowed, in  appearance  masculine  and  normal.  He  deeply 
deplored  his  position  and  loathed  his  weakness  to  auto- 
masturbation  (at  times  also  mutual). 

Mutual  kisses  and  embraces  satisfied  him.  Morally,  he 
said,  he  had  sunk  so  low  that  he  would  feign  abandon  him- 
self to  this  perverse  passion  were  it  not  for  the  considera- 
tion he  had  for  his  wife  and  child. 

My  advice  was  to  strenuously  combat  these  homo-sexual 
impulses,  perform  his  marital  duties  whenever  possible, 
eschew  alcohol  and  masturbation,  which  increases  homo- 
sexual feelings  and  kills  the  love  for  woman,  and  undergo 
treatment  for  neurasthenia.  If  he  could  not  find  relief 
and  the  situation  became  unbearable  he  must  confine  him- 
self to  kisses  and  embraces  with  the  male. 

Case  139,  V.,  age  thirty-six,  merchant;  mother 
psychopathic ;  sister  healthy ;  brother  neuropsychopathic. 

y.  was  early  drawn  to  persons  of  his  own  sex,  at  first 
to  school-  and  playmates;  with  the  advent  of  puberty  to 
adults ;  never  to  persons  of  the  opposite  sex  whose  charms 
had  no  interest  for  him.  At  the  age  of  six  he  felt  annoyed 
at  not  being  a  girl.  Dolls  and  girls'  games  he  always  pre- 
ferred. 

At  twelve  a  schoolmate  seduced  him  to  masturbate. 
His  dreams  (with  pollutions  when  virile)  were  exclusively 
of  an  homo-sexual  character.  He  practised  mutual  mas- 
turbation with  men,  coitus  inter  femora,  exceptionally 
succio  membri  alterius.  He  had  felt  a  pronounced  position 
as  to  the  active  or  passive  role  in  the  act.  Rarely  and 
only  faute  de  mieux  coitus  cum  muliere.  He  was  potent 
when  he  thought  during  the  act  of  a  man,  but  never  expe- 
rienced real  pleasure.  The  sexual  act  with  a  woman  ap- 
peared to  him  as  a  miserable  substitute  for  the  homo-sexual 
act.    During  recent  years  intimate  relations  with  a  young 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


369 


V.  acknowledged  the  abnormality  of  his  vita  sexualis. 

Genitals  normal.  Secondary  physical  and  psychical 
sexual  characteristics  thoroughly  masculine.  No  patholog- 
ical conditions.  Arrested  for  having  committed  mutual 
masturbation,  he  was  tried,  found  guilty  and  sent  to  prison. 
He  felt  his  sentence  keenly,  but  only  because  it  brought 
dishonour  to  him  and  his  family.  He  could  not  help  feeling 
and  acting  in  his  abnormal  manner. 

Case  140.  H.,  age  thirty,  member  of  high  society; 
mother  neuropathic. 

When  a  boy  he  felt  drawn  to  his  schoolmates.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  a  playmate  older  than  himself  committed 
paedicatio  on  him.  He  liked  it,  but  nevertheless  felt  pangs 
of  conscience  and  never  allowed  the  act  to  be  repeated 
again.  Later  on  he  practised  mutual  masturbation.  As 
neurasthenia  increased  it  sufficed  when  he  embraced  and 
pressed  a  companion  to  himself  to  produce  ejaculation.  He 
confined  himself  to  this  method  when  seeking  satisfaction. 
He  never  had  a  liking  for  persons  of  the  other  sex  and  was 
unconscious  of  his  anomaly.  At  twenty  he  made  some  at- 
tempts, apud  puellaSj  in  order  to  cure  his  vita  sexualis. 
Up  to  that  time  he  had  looked  upon  his  abnormal  prac- 
tices merely  as  a  youthful  aberration.  He  was  potent  in 
coitus,  but  derived  no  gratification  from  it,  for  which  rea- 
son he  turned  to  man  again.  His  weakness  was  for  young 
men  eighteen  to  twenty  years  of  age.  He  had  no  sympathy 
for  men  older  than  that.  He  never  played  a  well  defined 
role  in  his  relations  with  other  men,  but  his  social  situa- 
tion affected  him  keenly.  He  was  forever  haunted  by  the 
fear  of  detection,  and  saidi  he  could  never  survive  the 
shame  of  it.  There  was  nothing  in  habits  or  behaviour 
which  betrayed  antipathic  sexual  instinct.  Genitals  nor- 
mal. ^0  signs  of  degeneration.  He  had  no  faith  in  ever 
changing  his  abnormal  sexuality.  For  women  he  had  no 
taste  whatsoever. 


Case  141.  Y.,  age  forty,  manufacturer;  father  neu- 

24 


370 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


ropathic ;  died  of  cerebral  apoplexy ;  mother's  family  with 
taint  of  insanity;  two  other  children  of  the  family,  though 
sexually  normal,  were  constitutionally  neuropathic.  At 
eight  masturbation  of  his  own  accord.  At  fifteen  he  felt 
drawn  to  other  handsome  boys  of  his  own  age,  of  whom  he 
seduced  several  to  masturbation.  With  puberty  he  was 
attracted  by  youths  seventeen  to  twenty  years  of  age,  but 
they  must  be  beardless  and  have  pretty,  soft  and  girl-like 
features.    Girls  had  no  charm  for  him. 

He  soon  recognized  the  pathological  character  of  his 
vita  sexualis;  but  he  considered  his  method  of  satisfying 
his  abnormal  needs  as  in  accordance  with  nature  and  felt 
no  remorse.  To  touch  a  woman  was  loathsome  to  him.  He 
had  twice  attempted  coitus,  but  without  success.  In  like 
manner,  he  looked  upon  auto-masturbation  as  a  filthy  act. 
He  averred  that  he  had  honestly  striven  to  strip  off  this 
dreadful  impulse,  which  made  an  outcast  of  him  before  the 
whole  world.  But  all  his  efforts  were  in  vain,  for  he  felt 
forced  by  nature  to  seek  satisfaction  in  his  own  manner. 
He  always  played  the  active  role  and  confined  himself  en- 
tirely to  acts  not  proscribed  by  the  law  of  the  land.  Yet 
he  became  involved  in  some  affair,  lost  his  position,  which 
was  one  of  confidence  and  good  remuneration,  became  a 
vagabond  until  he  decided  to  cross  the  ocean  and  begin  a 
new  life.    Being  clever  and  honourable  he  succeeded. 

"When  first  I  met  T.,  he  was  in  despair  and  firmly  con^ 
templated  suicide,  especially  since  a  medical  man  had 
failed  with  hypnotic  treatment,  on  account  of  T.  not 
reacting  to  suggestion. 

He  was  inclined  to  neurasthenia.  Penis  small.  No 
pathological  symptoms.    Masculine  in  every  respect. 

Case  142.  T.,  age  thirty-four;  merchant;  mother 
neuropathic  and  weakly;  father  healthy.  At  the  age  of 
nine  a  schoolmate  tar^ght  him  how  to  masturbate.  He 
practised  mutual  masturbation  with  his  brother,  who  slept 
with  him  in  the  same  bed;  once  receptio  membri  in  os. 
On  one  occasion^  w^ien  yet  a  boy,  it  happened  quod  lambit 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


371 


locum  quo  prius  miles  urinaverat.  At  fourteen  first  love 
for  a  schoolmate  of  ten.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he 
took  a  dislike  to  handsome  young  men,  and  centred  his 
affection  in  decrepid  old  men. 

One  night  he  heard  his  aged  father  ^^give  a  groan  of 
sexual  satisfaction.''  This  excited  him  immensely  as  he 
imagined  his  father  performing  the  marital  act.  Since 
that  time  the  picture  of  old  men  performing  the  homo- 
sexual act  enlivened  his  dreams  (with  pollution) ,  and  was 
present  in  his  mind  during  masturbation.  The  older,  the 
more  decrepid  and  feeble  the  old  man  was,  when  he  saw 
such,  the  stronger  his  sexual  excitement  would  be  even 
unto  ejaculation.  At  twenty-three  he  sought  a  cure  with 
a  prostitute ;  but  erection  failed  him,  and  he  made  no  other 
attempts.    Young  men  and  boys  left  him  callous. 

At  twenty-nine  he  conceived  a  violent  love  for  an  old 
man  whom  he  accompanied  for  years  on  his  daily  walks. 
Intimate  relations  were,  however,  precluded.  But  he  often 
had  ejaculations  on  these  walks.  To  free  himself  of  this 
humiliating  situation  he  once  more  went  to  a  prostitute, 
but  it  proved  a  fiasco.  He  now  fell  upon  the  idea  to  hire 
a  decrepid  old  man,  take  him  along  and  make  him  have 
coitus  whilst  he  looked  on.  This  caused  erection  in  him, 
and  he  was  able  to  have  coitus  himself.  The  act,  however, 
gave  him  no  pleasure,  but  he  felt  psychically  relieved, 
especially  when  he  was  potent  in  the  absence  of  the  old 
man.  But  this  did  not  last  long.  He  became  sexually  and 
generally  neurasthenic,  depressed,  shy  and  impotent,  and 
gave  himself  up  to  psychical  onanism  coupled  with 
thoughts  of  old  men  in  homo-sexual  situations. 

T.  was  masculine  in  appearance,  and  presented  no 
special  marks  beyond  his  heavy  sexual  neurasthenia. 

Case  143.  Z.,  age  twenty-eight,  merchant;  father 
very  nervous  and  irritable;  mother  hysteropathic.  He 
was  himself  constitutionally  nervous,  suffered  from  enure- 
sis to  his  eighteenth  year,  and  was  a  frail  boy.  Proper 
physical  development  really  began  only  when  he  was 


372 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


twenty  years  of  age.  Tlie  first  sexual  emotions  he  experi- 
enced when,  a  boy  of  eight,  he  witnessed  other  boys  being 
caned  ad  podicem.  Although  he  felt  compassion  for  the 
boys,  he  yet  had  a  feeling  of  lustful  pleasure  pervading  his 
whole  body.  Some  time  afterwards  he  was  late  for  school 
and  on  the  way  the  anticipation  of  a  caning  ad  podicem 
excited  him  so  much  that  for  a  short  time  he  could  not 
move  and  had  a  violent  erection. 

At  eleven  he  fell  in  love  with  a  ^^beautiful,  blond  boy 
who  had  wondrously  lovely,  intelligent  and  lustrous  eyes." 

It  gave  him  immense  pleasure  to  see  this  boy  home, 
and  he  often  craved  for  kisses  and  caresses  from  him.  But 
he  recognized  the  unbecoming  nature  of  this  desire,  and 
did  not  allow  the  boy  to  have  an  inkling  of  them. 

At  that  time  he  met  a  girl  once,  two  years  his  junior, 
who  pleased  him  so  much  that  he  covered  her  with  kisses. 
This,  however,  remained  a  solitary  episode. 

At  thirteen  he  was  seduced  to  onanism.  But  he  did 
not  cultivate  the  habit,  as  he  found  protection  in  his  "more 
refined  feelings  for  young  men''  and  disdained  to  "drag 
his  pure,  divine  love"  in  the  gutter. 

At  seventeen  he  became  desperately  enamored  with  a 
companion  "with  lovely  brown  eyes,  noble  features  and 
dark  complexion".  He  suffered  imtold  tortures  through 
this  unhappy  love  for  two  and  one-half  years,  when  he 
was  separated  from  his  companion.  If  ever  he  were  to 
meet  him  again,  the  old  fire  would  be  certain  to  flare  up 
anew.  On  two  other  occasions  he  fell  in  love  with  com- 
rades, but  not  so  violently  as  in  the  first  instance.  At 
twenty  he  had  coitus,  but  derived  no  pleasure  from  the  act. 
He  continued  his  relations  with  women  for  the  purpose 
of  avoiding  masturbation,  to  appear  potent  and  to  mask 
his  homo-sexual  tendency. 

Although  he  had  no  horror  feminae,  women  did  not 
excite  him.   "A  woman  is  a  work  of  art,  a  statue." 

Endowed  with  a  strong  will  power  he  was  able  to  mas- 
ter his  abnormal  inclination.  But  his  sexual  position  ap- 
peared to  hina  unsatisfactory,  especially  as  he  looked  upon 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


373 


coitus  as  a  coarsely  sensual  enjoyment,  and  erection  became 
difficult. 

In  the  consultation  no  abnormal  signs  could  be  de- 
tected.  He  appeared  to  be  virile  and  mentally  sound. 

Case  144.  P.,  age  thirty-seven;  mother  very  nervous, 
suffered  from  migraine.  As  a  boy  he  was  subject  to  attacks 
of  hysteria  gravis.  Was  always  drawn  to  handsome  young 
men  and  became  highly  excited  when  he  could  see  their 
genitals.  With  puberty  he  practised  mutual  masturbation 
with  men;  but  they  must  be  about  twenty-five  to  thirty 
years  old.  He  played  the  female  role  in  the  sexual  act. 
He  loved  with  the  whole  intensity  of  woman,  and  only 
posed  as  a  man  like  an  actor  on  the  stage.  Other  boys 
sneered  at  him  on  account  of  his  girlish  ways  and  habits. 
In  the  hope  of  correcting  his  vita  sexualis  he  married.  He 
forced  himself  to  coitus  with  the  wife  and  produced  po- 
tency by  imagining  her  to  be  a  young  man.  They  had 
one  child.  But  he  himself  became  neurasthenic,  his  imag- 
ination waned  and  he  became  potent.  For  two  years 
he  avoided  coitus,  resumed  his  homo-sexual  practices  and 
was  apprehended  by  the  police  in  the  act  of  mutual  mas- 
turbation with  a  young  man. 

He  pleaded  that  prolonged  sexual  abstinence  had  un- 
duly excited  him  when  he  saw  the  genitals  of  a  man  and 
in  his  confusion  he  had  yielded  to  the  impulse. 

There  was  no  amnesia.  Thoroughly  virile.  Decent 
appearance.    Genitals  normal.    Short  imprisonment. 

Case  145.  N.,  aged  forty-one,  unmarried.  Father 
and  mother  near  relatives,  but  both  psychically  normal. 
An  uncle  on  the  father's  side  was  insane.  N.'s  brothers 
were  hyper-  and  hetero-sexual.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  felt 
strong  inclinations  to  other  boys.  At  fifteen  mutual  mas- 
turbation and  coitus  inter  femora. 

At  sixteen  a  love  affair  with  a  young  man.  His  homo- 
sexual love  developed,  so  he  claimed,  just  as  the  love  affairs 
between  man  and  woman  do  in  novels. 


374 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Only  handsome  young  men  of  the  age  of  twenty  to 
twenty-four  attracted  him.  His  erotic  dreams  were  solely 
homo-sexual.  He  played  the  female  role^  also  in  actual 
intercourse  with  men. 

His  soul  was  of  feminine  character,  so  he  said.  He 
never  cared  for  boys'  games,  only  for  cooking  and  girls^ 
work.  Manly  sj^orts  and  smoking  and  drinking  he  dis- 
dained. He  led  a  varied  life,  served  as  cook  in  a  foreign 
country  and  gave  great  satisfaction;  but  he  lost  his  place 
because  he  entered  upon  a  love-affair  with  the  son  of  his 
employer. 

At  twenty-two  he  recognized  the  abnormality  of  his 
sexual  position.  He  became  alarmed  and  began  to  fre- 
quent brothels  to  cure  himself  of  his  perverse  habits,  but 
erection  absolutely  failed  him. 

When  his  family  discovered  the  true  state  of  affairs  he 
became  confused  with  shame  and  made  an  attempt  on  his 
own  life.  But  he  recovered,  went  abroad  (cast  out  by  his 
family),  disgusted  wdth  himself  and  his  unhappy  life.  His 
only  hope  was  that  with  old  age  relief  would  come.  He 
came  for  medical  advice  to  find  ^^honour  and  rest.''  The 
secondary  physical  sexual  characteristics  were  quite  nor- 
mal and  of  the  masculine  type.  Genitals  normal.  He 
thought  of  castration  or  entering  a  monastery. 

Advice:  Suggestive  treatment. 

Case  146-  On  a  summer  evening,  at  twilight,  X. 
Y.,  a  physician  of  a  city  in  JSTorth  Germany,  was  detected 
by  a  watchman  while  committing  a  misdemeanour  with  a 
countryman  in  a  field.  He  was  practising  masturbation 
on  him,  and  then  mentulam  alius  in  os  suum  immisit,  X. 
escaped  legal  prosecution  by  flight.  The  authorities  dis- 
missed the  complaint,  because  there  had  been  no  publicity, 
and  because  immissio  membri  in  anum  had  not  taken  place. 
Among  X.'s  effects  was  found  an  extensive  correspond- 
ence of  a  perverse  sexual  character,  which  showed  that 
he  had  had  perverse  intercourse  for  years  with  all  classes 
of  people. 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIBTJALS. 


375 


X.  came  of  a  neurotic  family.  His  paternal  grand- 
father died  by  suicide  while  insane.  His  father  was  a 
weak,  peculiar  man.  One  brother  masturbated  at  the  age 
of  two.  A  cousin  was  sexually  perverse,  and  practised 
perverse  acts,  similar  to  those  of  X.,  while  a  youth;  he 
became  weak-minded,  and  died  of  spinal  disease.  A  pater- 
nal great-uncle  was  an  hermaphrodite.  His  mother's  sister 
was  insane.  His  mother  is  said  to  have  been  healthy.  X.'s 
brother  is  nervous  and  irascible. 

X.,  likewise,  was  nervous  as  a  child.  The  mewing  of 
a  cat  would  create  great  fear  in  him;  and  if  one  but  imi- 
tated the  voice  of  a  cat  he  would  cry  bitterly,  and  run 
to  others  for  protection.  Slight  physical  disturbance 
caused  violent  fever.  He  was  a  quiet,  dreamy  child,  of 
excitable  imagination,  but  of  slight  mental  capabilities. 
He  did  not  indulge  much  in  boyish  games;  he  preferred 
feminine  pursuits.  It  gave  him  especial  pleasure  to  curl 
the  hair  of  the  housemaid  or  of  his  brother. 

At  thirteen  X.  went  to  an  institute.  There  he  prac- 
tised mutual  masturbation,  seduced  his  comrades,  and  his 
cynical  conduct  made  him  unmanageable;  so  that  he  had 
to  be  taken  home.  At  that  time  the  parents  found  love- 
letters  with  lascivious  contents,  showing  perverse  sexuality. 
From  the  age  of  seventeen  he  studied  under  the  strict 
surveillance  of  a  professor  in  a  gymnasium.  He  made  but 
sad  progress  in  learning.    He  had  only  a  talent  for  music. 

After  finishing  his  studies,  the  patient  entered  the  uni- 
versity at  the  age  of  nineteen.  There  he  attracted  attention 
by  his  cynical  character  and  his  association  with  young 
persons  who  were  thought  to  be  given  to  masculine  love. 
He  began  to  be  dandified;  wore  striking  cravats,  and  low 
cut  shirts;  he  forced  his  feet  into  narrow  shoes,  and  curled 
his  hair  in  a  remarkable  way.  This  peculiarity  disappeared 
when  he  left  school  and  returned  home. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  was  for  a  long  time  neu- 
rasthenic. From  that  time  until  his  twenty-ninth  year 
he  was  earnest  and  skilful  in  his  profession ;  but  he  avoided 


376 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


the  society  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  constantly  associated 
with  men  of  doubtful  character. 

The  patient  would  not  allow  a  personal  examination. 
In  writing,  he  made  the  excuse  that  this  would  be  of  no 
use,  because  his  impulse  to  his  own  sex  had  existed  from 
his  earliest  childhood,  and  was  congenital.  He  had  always 
had  horror  feminae,  and  had  never  been  inclined  to  avail 
himself  of  the  charms  of  women.  Toward  men  he  felt 
himself  in  the  role  of  a  man.  He  recognised  his  impulse 
toward  his  own  sex  as  abnormal,  and  excused  his  sexual 
indulgence  as  being  the  result  of  an  abnormal  natural  con- 
dition. 

Since  his  flight,  X.  lived  out  of  Germany,  in  Southern 
Italy,  and,  as  I  heard  from  a  letter,  now,  as  before,  he 
indulged  in  perverse  love.  X.  was  an  earnest,  stately  man, 
of  masculine  features,  well-grown  beard,  and  normally  de- 
veloped genitals.  Dr.  X.  furnished  me  a  short  time  ago 
with  his  autobiography,  of  which  the  following  is  worthy 
of  mention: — 

^^When,  at  the  age  of  seven,  I  entered  a  private  school, 
I  felt  very  uncomfortable,  and  found  very  little  sympathy 
with  my  companions.  Only  toward  one  of  them,  who  was 
a  very  handsome  child,  did  I  feel  attracted,  and  I  loved 
him  wildly.  In  childish  games  I  always  knew  how  to 
arrange  it  so  that  I  could  appear  in  feminine  attire;  and 
my  greatest  pleasure  was  to  form  intricate  coiffures  for 
our  servant-girls.   I  often  regretted  that  I  was  not  a  girl. 

"My  sexual  instinct  awakened  when  I  was  thirteen, 
and  from  the  moment  of  its  appearance  it  was  directed 
toward  youthful,  strong  men.  At  first  I  was  not  really 
certain  that  this  was  abnormal,  but  consciousness  of  it  came 
when  I  saw  and  heard  how  my  companions  were  charac^ 
terized  sexually.  I  began  to  masturbate  at  the  age  of 
thirteen.  At  seventeen  I  left  home  and  went  to  the  gym- 
nasium of  a  large  capital,  where  I  was  put  to  board  with 
a  married  professor  of  the  gymnasium,  with  whose  son  I 
afterward  had  sexual  relations.  It  was  with  him  that  I 
first  had  sexual  satisfaction.    Thereafter  I  made  the  ao- 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


377 


quaintance  of  a  young  artist,  who  very  soon  noticed  that 
I  was  abnormal,  and  confessed  to  me  that  he  was  in  the 
same  condition.  I  learned  from  him  that  this  abnormality 
was  very  frequent ;  and  this  knowledge  overcame  the 
trouble  that  I  had  had  in  supposing  that  I  was  alone  in 
my  abnormality.  This  young  man  had  an  extensive  ac- 
quaintance with  persons  in  like  condition,  to  which  he 
introduced  me.  There  I  became  the  object  of  general 
attention,  for  on  all  sides  I  was  declared  to  be  very  attract- 
ive physically.  I  soon  became  insanely  loved  by  an  old 
gentleman;  but,  not  finding  him  to  my  taste,  I  endured 
him  but  a  short  time,  and  then  gave  ear  to  a  young  and 
handsome  officer  who  lay  at  my  feet.  He  was  really  my 
first  love. 

"After  passing  my  final  examination,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  free  from  the  discipline  of  school  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  great  number  of  people  like  myself,  and 
among  them  Karl  TJlrichs  (Numa  IsTumantius). 

^^When,  later,  I  took  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and 
associated  with  many  normal  youths,  I  was  often  in  a  posi- 
tion where  I  was  compelled  to  visit  public  prostitutes. 
After  having  consorted  to  no  purpose  with  various  pros- 
titutes, some  of  whom  were  very  beautiful,  the  opinion  was 
spread  among  my  acquaintances  that  I  was  impotent,  and 
I  strengthened  this  by  telling  of  previous  sexual  excesses. 
At  that  time  I  had  numerous  external  relations  with  per- 
sons who  prized  my  physical  peculiarities,  which  were 
considered  very  beautiful.  The  result  of  this  was,  that  I 
was  exciting  somebody  all  the  time;  and  I  received  such  a 
mass  of  love-letters  that  I  was  often  in  embarrassment. 
The  acme  of  this  was  reached  later,  when,  as  a  physician, 
I  lived  in  the  hospital.  There  I  moved  about  like  a  cele- 
brated person,  and  the  scenes  of  jealousy  that  took  place 
on  my  account  almost  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  whole 
thing.  Shortly  after  this,  I  fell  ill  with  an  inflammation 
of  my  shoulder- joint,  from  which  I  recovered  after  three 
months.  During  this  illness  I  received  subcutaneous  in- 
jections of  morphine  several  times  daily,  which  were  sud- 


378 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


denly  discontinued,  and  which  I  practised  thereafter 
secretly  after  my  recovery.  For  the  purpose  of  special 
study,  I  spent  some  months  in  Vienna,  before  entering  into 
private  practice,  and  there,  by  means  of  some  recommen- 
dations, I  gained  entrance  to  various  circles  of  people  like 
myself.  I  there  learned  that  the  abnormality  in  question, 
in  its  various  forms,  is  spread  through  the  lower  classes 
as  well  as  the  higher,  and  that  those  who  are  approachable 
for  money  are  not  infrequently  met  among  the  higher 
classes. 

^^When  I  established  myself  in  the  country,  I  hoped 
to  cure  myself  of  the  morphine  habit  by  means  of  cocaine; 
and  then  I  became  a  victim  of  cocaine,  of  which,  only 
after  three  relapses,  I  was  able  to  rid  myself  (about  two 
years  ago).  In  my  position,  it  was  impossible  for  me  to 
find  sexual  satisfaction,  and  I  noticed  with  pleasure  that 
the  use  of  cocaine  had  overcome  my  desire.  When,  on 
the  first  occasion,  at  the  urgent  request  of  my  aunt,  I  had 
emancipated  myself  from  cocaine,  I  travelled  for  a  few 
weeks  in  order  to  improve  my  health,  the  perverse  im- 
pulses were  again  awakened  in  their  old  strength,  and, 
one  evening,  while  out  in  the  fields  by  the  city  amusing 
myself  with  a  man,  I  noticed  that  I  had  been  detected  by 
the  authorities  and  advertised;  but  that  the  act  of  which 
I  was  accused  was  not  punishable,  in  accordance  with  the 
opinion  expressed  by  the  highest  court  of  the  German 
kingdom.  I  had,  therefore,  to  be  careful;  for  already  the 
announcement  of  the  crime  had  been  heralded  on  all  sides. 
I  saw  that  after  this  I  should  be  compelled  to  leave  Ger- 
many, and  find  a  new  home  where  neither  the  law  nor 
public  opinion  would  be  opposed  to  that  impulse,  which, 
like  all  abnormal  instincts,  could  not  be  overcome  by  the 
will.  Since  I  was  never  deceived  for  a  moment  about 
the  matter,  in  recognizing  my  impulses  as  opposed  to  social 
usages,  I  repeatedly  attempted  to  become  master  of  them; 
but  by  these  efforts  they  were  increased  in  power.  This 
same  observation  has  been  communicated  to  me  by  ac- 
quaintances.  Since  I  was  exclusively  drawn  toward  strong, 


HOMO-SEXUAL  INDIVIDUALS. 


379 


youthful  and  masculine  individuals,  and  they  were  very 
seldom  inclined  to  yield  to  my  wishes,  I  was  compelled 
to  buy  them.  Since  my  desire  was  limited  to  persons  of 
the  lower  classes,  I  was  always  able  to  find  such  as  were 
purchasable  with  money.  I  hope  that  the  following  state- 
ments will  not  awaken  your  repugnance.  At  first  I  in^ 
tended  to  omit  them;  but,  for  the  completeness  of  this 
communication,  I  may  include  them,  since  they  serve  to 
enrich  the  clinical  material.  I  am  compelled  to  perform 
the  sexual  act  in  the  following  way : — 

^^Pene  juvenis  in  os  recepto,  ita  ut  commovendo  ore 
meo  effecerim,  ut  is  quem  cupio,  semen  ejaculaverit, 
sperma  in  perinseum  exspuo,  femora  comprimi  jubeo  et 
penem  meum  adversus  et  intra  femora  compressa  immitto. 
Dum  hsec  fiunt,  necesse  est,  ut  juvenis  me,  quantum  potest, 
amplectatur.  Quae  prius  me  fecisse  narravi,  eandem  mihi 
afferunt  voluptatem,  acsi  ipse  ejaculo.  Ejaculationem 
pene  in  anum  immittendo  vel  manu  terendo  assequi,  mihi 
nequaquam  amoenum  est. 

"Sed  inveni,  qui  penem  meum  receperint  atque  ea 
facientes,  quae  supra  exposui,  effecerint,  ut  libidines  meae 
plane  sint  saturatse. 

^^Concerning  my  person,  I  must  still  mention  the  fol- 
lowing: I  am  186  centimetres  tall,  of  masculine  appear- 
ance, and  with  the  exception  of  abnormal  irritability  of 
the  skin,  healthy.  My  hair  and  beard  are  black  and  thick. 
My  genitals  are  of  medium  size  and  normally  formed.  I 
am  able,  without  any  trace  of  fatigue,  to  perform  the 
sexual  act  from  four  to  six  times  in  twenty-four  hours. 
My  life  is  very  regular.  I  use  alcohol  and  tobacco  very 
sparingly.  I  play  the  piano  quite  well,  and  some  of  my 
unpretentious  compositions  have  been  much  applauded.  I 
have  lately  finished  a  novel,  which,  as  my  first  work,  has 
been  very  favourably  criticised  by  my  friends.  The  story 
has  several  problems  taken  from  the  life  of  urnings  in  the 
subject-matter. 

"Among  the  large  number  of  fellow-suiferers  that  are 
personally  known  to  me,  I  have  naturally  been  in  a  posi- 


380 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtTALIS. 


tion  to  make  observations  concerning  the  condition  and 
the  degrees  of  abnormality;  and,  perhaps,  the  following 
communications  may  be  of  service  to  you : — 

^^The  most  abnormal  thing  that  I  am  acquainted  with 
was  the  impulse  of  a  gentleman  who  lived  in  Berlin.  He 
preferred,  above  all  others,  young  fellows  with  unwashed 
feet,  which  he  would  lick  passionately.  A  gentleman  in 
Leipzig  was  similar  to  him;  who,  where  it  was  possible, 
would  linguam  in  anum  immittere,  preferring  the  parts  to 
be  uncleaned.  Several  have  assured  me  that  the  sight  of 
riding-boots  or  of  parts  of  military  uniforms  induced  such 
excitement  in  them  that  spontaneous  ejaculation  resulted. 
A  man  in  Paris  compelled  a  friend  ut  in  os  ei  mingat. 

^^With  reference  to  the  degree  in  which  many  feel 
themselves  as  women,  which  is  with  me  not  the  case,  two 
persons  in  Vienna  are  examples.  They  bore  feminine 
names.  One  is  a  barber  who  calls  himself  Trench  Laura ;' 
the  other  was  formerly  a  butcher,  who  calls  himself  ^Sel- 
cher-Fanny'.  Both  of  them  never  missed  an  opportunity 
during  the  carnival  time,  to  show  themselves  in  very  fan- 
tastic feminine  masks.  In  Hamburg  there  is  a  person  that 
many  people  believe  to  be  a  woman,  because  he  always 
goes  about  the  house  in  feminine  attire,  and  only  occa- 
sionally leaves  the  house,  and  always  in  such  clothing. 
This  man  wished  to  stand  as  godmother  at  a  christening, 
and,  as  a  result  of  it,  gave  rise  to  great  scandal. 

^Teminine  timidity,  frivolity,  obstinacy  and  weakness 
of  character  are  the  rule  in  such  individuals. 

^^Several  cases  of  perverse  sexuality  are  known  to  me 
in  whom  epilepsy  and  psychoses  are  present.  Hernias  are 
remarkably  frequent.  In  practice  many  persons  come  to 
me  to  be  treated  for  diseases  of  the  anus,  because  of  rec- 
ommendation by  friends.  I  saw  two  syphilitic  and  one 
local  chancre,  and  several  fissures;  and  at  present  I  am 
treating  a  gentleman  for  condylomata  of  the  anus,  which 
form  a  rounded  tumor  as  large  as  a  fist.  One  case  of 
primary  affection  of  the  soft  palate  I  saw  in  Vienna,  in  a 
young  man  who  used  to  frequent  fancy-dress  balls  in  girVs 


HOMO-SEXUAL.  INDIVIDUALS. 


381 


attire,  and  entice  young  men;  he  would  then  pretend  that 

he  was  menstruating,  and  thus  induce  the  others  to  use 
him  per  os.  The  assertion  was  made  that  in  this  way  he 
had  deceived  fourteen  men  in  one  evening.  Since,  in  none 
of  the  publications  concerning  antipathic  sexuality  that  I 
have  seen,  I  have  found  anything  concerning  the  inter- 
course of  pederasts  among  themselves,  I  venture  to  com- 
m.unicate  something  concerning  it  in  conclusion: — 

^^As  soon  as  individuals  that  are  affected  with  inverted 
sexuality  become  acquainted,  there  is  a  detailed  narration 
of  their  experiences,  loves  and  seductions,  as  far  as  the 
social  difference  between  them  allows  such  entertainment. 
Only  in  very  few  cases  is  this  amusement  uncommon  with 
new  acquaintances.  Among  themselves,  they  call  them- 
selves ^aunts';  in  Vienna,  ^sisters';  and  two  very  mascu- 
line public  prostitutes  in  Vienna,  whom  I  accidentally 
became  acquainted  with,  and  who  lived  in  a  perverse  sex- 
ual relation  with  each  other,  told  me  that  for  the  corre- 
sponding condition  in  women  the  name  ^uncle'  was  used. 
Since  I  became  conscious  of  my  abnormal  instinct  I  have 
met  thousands  of  such  individuals. 

^^Almost  every  large  city  has  some  meeting-place,  as 
well  as  a  so-called  promenade.  In  smaller  cities  there 
are  relatively  few  ^aunts,'  though  in  a  small  town  of  2300 
inhabitants  I  found  eight,  and  in  one  of  7000  eighteen  of 
whom  I  was  absolutely  sure, — to  say  nothing  of  those 
whom  I  suspected.  In  my  own  town  of  30,000  inhabitants 
I  personally  know  about  120  ^aunts'.  The  greater  number 
of  them,  and  I  especially,  possess  the  capability  of  judging 
another  immediately  as  to  whether  they  are  alike  or  not, 
which,  in  the  language  of  the  ^aunts,'  is  called  ^reason- 
able' or  ^unreasonable'.  My  acquaintances  are  often  as- 
tounded at  the  certainty  of  my  judgment.  Individuals 
that  are  apparently  absolutely  masculine  I  recognize  as 
^aunts'  at  the  first  sight.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  able  to 
behave  myself  in  such  a  masculine  way  that,  in  circles  to 
which  I  have  been  introduced  by  acquaintances,  there  ii§ 


382 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


a  doubt  as  to  my  genuineness.  When  I  am  in  the  mood, 
I  can  act  exactly  like  a  girl. 

^^Since  the  majority  of  ^aunts/  like  myself,  in  no  way 
regret  their  abnormality,  but  would  be  sorry  if  the  condi- 
tion were  to  be  changed ;  and,  moreover,  since  the  congeni- 
tal condition,  according  to  my  own  and  all  other  experi- 
ence, cannot  be  influenced,  all  our  hope  rests  upon  the 
possibility  of  a  change  of  the  laws  with  reference  to  it,  so 
that  only  rape  or  the  commission  of  public  offence,  when 
this  can  be  proved  at  the  same  time,  shall  be  punishable.'^ 

3.  Effcmination. 

There  are  various  transitions  from  the  foregoing  cases 
•to  those  making  up  this  category,  characterised  by  the 
degree  in  which  the  psychical  personality,  especially  in 
general  manner  of  feeling  and  inclinations,  is  influenced 
by  the  abnormal  sexual  feeling.  In  this  group  are  fully 
developed  cases  in  which  males  are  females  in  feeling;  and 
vice  versa  women,  males.  This  abnormality  of  feeling 
and  of  development  of  the  character  is  often  apparent  in 
childhood.  The  boy  likes  to  spend  his  time  with  girls, 
play  with  dolls,  and  help  his  mother  about  the  house;  he 
likes  to  cook,  sew,  knit;  he  develops  tastes  in  female 
toilettes^  and  even  becomes  the  adviser  of  his  sisters.  As 
he  grows  older  he  eschews  smoking,  drinking  and  manly 
sports,  and,  on  the  contrary,  finds  pleasure  in  adornment 
of  persons,  art,  helle-lettres^  etc.,  even  to  the  extent  of 
giving  himself  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  the  beautiful. 
Since  woman  possesses  parallel  inclinations,  he  prefers  to 
move  in  the  society  of  women. 

If  he  can  assume  the  role  of  a  female  at  a  masquerade 
it  is  his  greatest  delight.  He  seeks  to  please  his  lover,  so 
to  speak,  by  studiously  trying  to  represent  what  pleases 
the  female-loving  man  in  the  opposite  sex — modesty,  sweet- 
ness, taste  for  sesthetics,  poetry,  etc.  Efforts  to  approach 
the  female  appearance  in  gait,  attitude  and  attire  are  fre- 
quently seen. 


EFFEMINATI02S', 


383 


"Witli  reference  to  the  sexual  feeling  and  instinct  of 
these  urnings,  so  thoroughly  permeated  in  all  their  mental 
being,  the  men,  without  exception,  feel  themselves  to  be 
females.  Thus  they  feel  themselves  to  be  antagonistic  to 
persons  of  their  own  sex  constituted  like  themselves,  as  of 
course,  they  are  like  them  in  form.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  are  drawn  toward  those  of  their  own  sex  that 
are  Jhomo-sexual  or  sexually  normal.  The  same  jealousy 
which  occurs  in  normal  sexual  life  also  occurs  here,  when 
rivalry  is  threatened;  and,  indeed,  since  they  are,  as  a  rule, 
hypersesthetic  sexually,  this  jealousy  is  often  boundless. 

In  cases  of  completely  developed  inverted  sexuality, 
hetero-sexual  love  is  looked  upon  as  a  thing  absolutely  in- 
comprehensible; sexual  intercourse  with  a  person  of  the 
opposite  sex  is  unthinkable,  impossible.  Such  an  attempt 
brings  on  the  inhibitory  concept  of  disgust  or  even  horror, 
which  makes  erection  impossible.  Only  two  of  my  cases 
transitional  to  the  third  category  were  able,  with  the  aid 
of  imagination  which  made  the  female  in  question  assume 
the  role  of  man,  to  have  coitus  for  the  time  being;  but 
the  act,  which  yielded  no  gratification,  was  a  great  sacri- 
fice, and  afforded  no  pleasure. 

In  homo-sexual  intercourse  effeminated  man  feels  him* 
self  in  the  act  always  as  a  woman.  The  means  of  indul- 
gence, where  there  is  irritable  weakness  of  the  ejaculation 
centre,  are  simply  succubus,  or  passive  coitus  inter  femora; 
in  other  cases,  passive  masturbation,  or  ejaculatio  viri  di- 
lecti  in  ore.  Some  have  a  desire  for  passive  pederasty; 
occasionally  a  desire  for  active  pederasty  occurs.  In  one 
attempt  of  this  kind,  the  man  desisted  because  of  the  dis- 
gust which  seized  him  when  the  act  reminded  him  of 
coitus. 

There  was  never  inclination  for  immature  persons  (hoy- 
love.)    Not  infrequently  there  were  only  platonic  desires. 

Case  147.  E.,  aged  thirty-one,  son  of  an  inveterate 
drunkard.  ISTo  other  taint  in  the  family.  Grew  up  in  a 
village.    At  the  age  of  six  he  began  to  feel  happy  when 


384 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


in  the  company  of  men  with  beards.  At  the  age  of  eleven 
he  began  to  blush  whenever  he  met  a  handsome  man,  and 
dared  not  look  at  them.  He  was  at  ease  when  in  the  com- 
pany of  women.  He  wore  girl's  garments  "up  to  his  sev- 
enth year,  and  was  very  unhappy  when  he  was  deprived 
of  them.  Occupation  in  the  kitchen  and  about  the  house 
he  liked  best.  His  school  time  passed  without  events. 
'Now  and  then  he  had  intimate  liking  for  a  certain  school- 
mate, but  this  wore  off. 

Dreams  of  men  with  beards  clad  in  blue  clothes  became 
more  frequent. 

He  joined  an  athletic  society  that  he  might  converse 
with  men,  liked  to  go  to  balls,  not  on  account  of  the  girls, 
who  were  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him,  but  to  see  the 
fine  men,  thinking  all  the  time  that  he  was  in  the  embrace 
of  one  of  them.  He  felt  lonely,  however,  and  dissatisfied, 
and  gradually  became  conscious  of  being  quite  unlike  the 
other  young  fellows.  All  his  thoughts  and  aims  were  to 
find  a  man  who  could  love  him. 

At  seventeen  he  was  seduced  by  another  man  to  mutual 
masturbation.  Delight,  shame  and  fear  were  the  reaction. 
He  recognized  the  abnormality  of  his  sexual  feelings,  be* 
came  depressed,  came  near  committing  suicide.  He  finally 
became  reconciled  with  his  abnormal  position  and  craved 
for  men,  but  being  shy  by  nature  he  found  but  little  op- 
portunity. He  felt  uneasy  when  girls  sought  his  company. 
When  twenty-six  he  went  to  live  in  a  large  city  and  now 
found  plenty  of  opportunities  for  homo-sexual  intercourse. 
For  some  time  he  lived  with  another  man  of  his  own  age 
as  husband  and  wife.  He  felt  happy  in  the  role  of  woman. 
Sexual  gratification  was  obtained  by  mutual  masturbation 
and  coitus  inter  femora. 

He  was  a  skilful  workman,  well  liked,  and  in  appear- 
ance and  behaviour  masculine.  Genitals  normal.  No 
signs  of  degeneration. 

His  younger  brother  was  also  homo-sexual. 

Two  sisters,  who  both  died  young,  avoided  men,  never 


EFFEMIJSTATION. 


385 


cared  for  work  in  the  kitchen,  but  preferred  that  in  the 
stable,  and  were  skilful  in  all  handicrafts  of  men. 

Case  C,  age  twenty-eight,  gentleman  of  lei- 

sure; father  neuropathic;  mother  very  nervous.  One 
brother  suffered  from  paranoia,  another  was  psychically 
degenerated.  Three  younger  members  of  the  family  were 
normal. 

C.  was  neuropathically  tainted;  slight  convulsive  tic. 
As  long  as  he  can  remember  he  felt  drawn  to  male  per- 
sons, at  first  only  to  his  schoolmates.  When  puberty  set 
in  he  fell  in  love  with  male  teachers,  who  used  to  visit  at 
the  house  of  his  parents.  He  felt  himself  in  the  female 
role.  His  dreams,  with  pollutions,  were  always  about  men. 
He  was  gifted  in  music  and  poetry  and  loved  the  theatre. 
For  science,  especially  mathematics,  he  had  no  talents  and 
passed  his  final  examinations  only  with  difficulty.  Psychic- 
ally, he  declared,  he  was  a  woman.  Loved  to  play  with 
dolls  and  concerned  himself  by  preference  with  woman's 
affairs,  disdaining  all  the  pursuits  of  men.  He  liked  best 
the  society  of  young  girls,  because  they  were  sympathetic 
and  had  an  affinity  of  soul.  When  in  the  company  of  men 
he  was  shy  and  confused  like  a  maiden.  He  never 
smoked,  and  disliked  alcoholic  drinks.  He  feign  would 
have  liked  to  spend  his  time  in  cooking,  knitting  and  em- 
broidering. He  had  no  libido.  Sexual  intercourse  with 
men  only  a  few  times,  although  his  ideal  was  to  play  the 
role  of  the  woman  on  such  occasions.  Coitus  cum  muliere 
he  abhorred.  After  reading  "Psychopathia  Sexualis,'^  he 
became  alarmed,  was  afraid  of  coming  in  conflict  with  the 
police  and  avoided  sexual  relations  with  men.  But  pollu- 
tions became  very  frequent,  and  neurasthenia  supervened. 
He  came  for  medical  advice. 

C.  had  an  abimdant  beard,  and  was  of  a  decidedly  mas- 
culine type,  excepting  soft  features  and  a  remarkably  fine 
skin.  Genitals  normal,  except  a  deficient  descensus  of 
one  of  the  testicles.  In  his  behaviour,  gait,  and  appearance 
nothing  unusual,  though  he  had  the  illusion  that  everybody 

25 


386 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


noticed  his  abnormal  sexual  proclivity.  He  shunned  soci- 
ety for  that  reason.  Lascivious  talk  made  him  blush  like 
a  maiden.  Once  when  someone  turned  the  topic  of  con- 
versation on  antipathic  sexual  instinct^  he  fainted.  Music 
brought  on  a  heavy  perspiration  all  over  his  body.  Upon 
closer  acquaintance  he  showed  psychical  femininity;  he 
was  as  timid  as  a  girl,  and  without  a  vestige  of  independ- 
ence. Nervous  restlessness,  convulsive  tic,  numerous  neu- 
rasthenic complications  put  on  him  the  stamp  of  a  consti- 
tutionally tainted  neuropathic  individual. 

Case  149.  B.,  waiter,  forty-two  years  of  age,  un- 
married, was  sent  to  me  by  his  own  physician  (with  whom 
he  had  fallen  in  love),  as  a  case  of  sexual  inversion.  B. 
gave  readily  in  modest  language  an  account  of  his  vita 
anteacta  and  especially  sexualis.  He  seemed  pleased  to 
obtain  at  last  an  authentic  explanation  of  his  abnormal 
state  which  he  had  always  considered  a  disease. 

B.  possessed  no  knowledge  of  his  grandparents.  The 
father  was  of  an  irascible,  excitable  nature,  a  drinker,  and 
of  strong  sexual  wants.  After  begetting  twenty-four  chil- 
dren vdth  the  same  woman,  he  obtained  a  divorce,  and 
after  that  had  three  children  by  his  housekeeper.  The 
mother  was  a  healthy  woman.  Of  the  twenty-four 
children  only  six  are  now  among  the  living,  several  of 
whom  suffer  from  nervous  affections,  but  are  sexually  nor- 
mal, except  one  sister  who  for  ever  runs  after  the  men. 

B.  claimed  to  have  alw^ays  been  delicate  and  sickly. 
His  vita  sexualis  awoke  at  the  age  of  eight.  He  began 
to  masturbate  and  derived  much  pleasure  from  penem 
aliorum  puerorum  in  os  arrigere.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he 
began  to  fall  in  love  with  men,  preferring  those  in  the 
thirties  and  with  moustache.  His  sexual  needs  at  that 
period  were  extraordinary  and  erections  and  pollutions 
were  frequent.  He  masturbated  daily,  thinking  of  some 
man  whom  he  loved.  His  ambition  was  always  penem 
viri  in  os  arrigere^  which  thought  caused  ejaculation  ac- 
companied by  the  utmost  lust.     But  only  twelve  times 


EFFEMHSTATIOm 


387 


thus  far  had  he  been  successful  in  this.  He  never  felt 
nausea  at  the  penis  of  others  if  they  were  sympathetic;  on 
the  contrary.  Active  as  well  as  passive  pederasty  dis- 
gusted him  thoroughly  and  he  never  accepted  such  offers. 
During  the  perverse  act  he  played  the  role  of  woman.  His 
love  for  sympathetic  men  was  boundless.  He  could  do  any- 
thing for  the  man  whom  he  thus  loved,  and  when  beholding 
him  he  trembled  with  excitement  and  lustful  feelings. 

"When  nineteen  he  was  several  times  lured  by  his  com- 
panions to  a  brothel,  but  coitus  did  not  please  him  and 
only  at  the  moment  of  ejaculation  did  he  experience  a  sort 
of  gratification.  He  could  only  be  virile  with  woman 
when  he  thought  of  her  during  the  act  as  the  man  whom 
he  loved.  He  much  rather  would  have  preferred  the 
woman  to  allow  him  immissio  penis  in  os;  but  she  refused. 
Faute  de  mieux  he  indulged  in  coitus;  twice  even  he  was 
a  father.  The  younger  of  the  two  children,  now  a  girl  of 
eight,  has  already  begun  masturbation  and  mutual  onan- 
ism, which  fact  troubled  him  very  much.  "Was  there  no 
remedy  for  this? 

Patient  said  that  towards  men  he  always  felt  himself 
to  be  of  feminine  type  (this  also  during  sexual  intercourse). 
His  idea  was  that  this  sexual  perversion  originated  from 
the  fact  that  his  father  when  begetting  him  wished  to 
beget  a  girl.  The  other  children  of  the  family  always 
teased  him  on  account  of  his  girlish  ways  and  manners. 
To  sweep  the  rooms  and  wash  the  dishes  were  ever  pleasant 
occupations  for  him.  His  housework  was  always  much 
admired  and  praised  because  he  was  cleverer  than  the  girls. 
Whenever  he  could  he  would  don  girFs  attire.  At  the 
Mardi-gras  balls  he  always  wore  the  female  mask.  He 
made  a  capital  coquette  on  account  of  his  female  nature. 

Drinking,  smoking,  manly  sports  and  occupations  never 
suited  him,  but  he  was  passionately  fond  of  sewing  and 
was  often  upbraided  on  account  of  his  weakness  for  dolls 
when  a  boy.  When  at  the  circus  or  the  theatre  his  atten- 
tion was  only  drawn  to  the  male  performers.    He  had  an 


388 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


irresistible  desire  to  loiter  about  W.C's.  in  order  to  get  a 
look  at  the  men's  genitals. 

Female  charms  never  attracted  him.  Coitus  was  only 
possible  when  aided  by  the  thought  of  a  beloved  man. 
Jfocturnal  pollutions  were  always  produced  by  lascivious 
dreams  about  men. 

Despite  numerous  sexual  excesses  B.  had  never  suf- 
fered from  neurasthenia  sexualis;  neither  were  there  symp- 
toms of  neurasthenia  of  any  kind. 

Features  delicate ;  sparse  side  whiskers  and  moustache, 
which  began  to  grow  only  when  he  was  twenty-eight.  His 
external  appearance,  excepting  a  light,  swinging  gait,  did 
not  indicate  female  nature.  He  observed  that  he  was 
often  teased  on  account  of  his  womanish  carriage.  His 
manners  were  highly  modest.  Genitals  large,  well  devel- 
oped, quite  normal,  with  abundance  of  hair;  pelvis  mas- 
culine. Cranium  rachitic,  slightly  hydrocephalic;  parietal 
bones  rather  bulging.  Countenance  exceptionally  small. 
Patient  said  he  was  easily  provoked  to  wrath. 

Case  150.  Taylor  had  occasion  to  examine  a  certain 
Eliza  Edwards,  aged  twenty-four.  It  was  discovered  that 
she  was  of  masculine  sex.  E.  had  worn  female  clothing 
from  her  fourteenth  year,  and  had  also  been  an  actress. 
The  hair  was  worn  long,  after  the  manner  of  females,  and 
parted  in  the  middle.  The  form  of  the  face  was  feminine, 
but  otherwise  the  body  was  masculine.  The  beard  was 
carefully  pulled  out.  The  masculine,  well-developed  gen- 
itals were  fixed  in  an  upward  position  by  an  artful  band- 
age. The  condition  of  the  anus  indicated  passive  peder- 
asty (Taylor,  "Med.  Jurisp.''  1873,  ii.,  p.  473). 

Case  151.  An  official  of  middle  age,  who  for  some 
years  had  been  happy  in  family  life,  and  was  married  to  a 
virtuous  woman,  presented  a  peculiar  manifestation  of  anti- 
pathic sexual  feeling. 

One  day,  through  the  indiscretion  of  a  prostitute,  the 
following  scandal  became  public:  About  once  a  week  X. 


ANDEOGYNY. 


389 


would  appear  in  a  house  of  prostitution,  and  there  dress 
himself  up  as  a  woman,  always  requiring,  as  a  part  of  his 
costume,  a  coiffure.  When  his  toilet  was  completed,  he 
would  lie  down  on  the  bed,  and  have  the  prostitute  perform 
manustupration.  But  he  very  much  preferred  to  have  9 
male  person  (a  servant  of  the  house).  This  man's  fathei' 
was  heriditarily  tainted,  had  been  insane  several  times, 
and  was  afflicted  with  hypercesthesia  and  parcesthesia  sex- 
ualis. 

4*  Androgyny. 

Forming  direct  transitions  from  the  foregoing  groups 
are  those  individuals  of  antipathic  sexuality  in  whom  not 
only  the  character  and  all  the  feelings  are  in  accord  with 
the  abnormal  sexual  instinct,  but  also  the  frame,  the  feat- 
ures, voice,  etc.;  so  that  the  individual  approaches  the 
opposite  sex  anthropologically,  and  in  more  than  a  psychi- 
cal and  psycho-sexual  way.  This  anthropological  form  of 
the  cerebral  anomaly  apparently  represents  a  very  high  de- 
gree of  degeneration ;  but  that  this  variation  is  based  on  an 
entirely  different  ground  than  the  teratological  manifesta- 
tion of  hermaphroditism,  in  an  anatomical  sense,  is  clearly 
shown  by  the  fact  that  thus  far,  in  the  domain  of  inverted 
sexuality,  no  transitions  to  hermaphroditic  malformation 
of  the  genitals  have  been  observed.  The  genitals  of  these 
persons  always  prove  to  be  fully  differentiated  sexually, 
though  not  infrequently  there  are  present  anatomical  signs 
of  degeneration  {epispadiasis,  etc.),  in  the  sense  of  arrests 
of  development  in  organs  that  are  otherwise  well  marked. 

There  is  yet  wanting  a  sufficient  record  of  cases  belong- 
ing to  this  interesting  group  of  women  in  masculine  attire 
with  masculine  genitals.  Every  experienced  observer  of 
his  fellow-men  remembers  masculine  persons  that  were 
very  remarkable  for  their  womanish  character  and  type 
(wide  hips,  form  rounded  by  abundant  development  of 
adipose  tissue,  absence  or  insuflScient  development  of  beard, 
feminine  features^  delicate  complexion,  falsetto  voice,  etc.). 


390 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


In  persons  belonging  to  tlie  fourth  group,  and  in  cer- 
tain ones  in  the  third,  forming  transitions  to  the  fourth, 
there  seems  to  be  a  feeling  of  shame  (sexual)  toward  per- 
sons  of  the  same  sex,  and  not  toward  those  of  the  opposite 
sex. 

Case  152.  Androgyny.  Mr.  v.  H.,  aged  thirty,  sin- 
gle; of  neuropathic  mother.  Nervous  and  mental  diseases 
were  said  not  to  have  occurred  in  the  patient's  family,  and 
his  only  brother  w^as  said  to  be  mentally  and  physically 
completely  normal.  The  patient  developed  tardily  physi- 
cally, and,  therefore,  spent  much  of  his  time  at  the  sea- 
shore and  climatic  resorts.  From  childhood  he  was  of  neu- 
ropathic constitution,  and,  according  to  the  statements  of 
his  relatives,  unlike  other  boys.  His  disinclination  for 
masculine  pursuits  and  his  preference  for  feminine  amuse- 
ments were  early  remarked.  Thus  he  avoided  all  boyish 
games  and  gymnastic  exercises,  while  doll-play  and  femi- 
nine occupations  were  particularly  pleasing  to  him.  Sub- 
sequently he  developed  well  physically,  and  escaped  severe 
illnesses,  but  he  remained  mentally  abnormal,  incapable  of 
an  earnest  aim  in  life,  and  decidedly  feminine  in  thought 
and  feeling. 

In  his  seventeenth  year  pollution  occurred,  became 
more  frequent,  and  finally  took  place  during  the  day;  so 
that  the  patient  grew  weak,  and  manifested  various  ner- 
vous  disturbances.  Symptoms  of  neurasthenia  spinalis 
made  their  appearance,  and  lasted  for  some  years,  but  they 
became  milder  with  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  pollu- 
tions. Onanism  w^as  denied,  but  was  very  probable.  An 
indolent,  effeminate,  dreamy  habit  of  thought  had  become 
more  and  more  noticeable  ever  since  puberty.  All  efforts 
to  induce  the  patient  to  take  up  an  earnest  pursuit  in  life 
were  in  vain.  His  intellectual  functions,  though  formally 
quite  undisturbed,  were  never  equal  to  the  motive  of  an 
independent  character,  and  the  higher  ideals  of  life.  He 
remained  dependent,  an  overgrown  child;  and  nothing 
more  clearly  indicated  his  original  abnormal  condition  than 


ANDROGYNY. 


391 


an  actual  incapability  to  take  care  of  money,  and  his  own 
confession  that  he  had  no  ability  to  nse  money  reasonably ; 
that  as  soon  as  he  had  money  he  wasted  it  for  curios,  toilet- 
articles,  and  the  like. 

Incapable  as  he  was  of  a  reasonable  use  of  money,  the 
patient  was  no  more  capable  of  leading  a  social  existence, 
indeed,  he  was  incapable  of  gaining  an  insight  into  its 
significance  and  value. 

He  learned  very  poorly,  spending  his  time  in  toilettes 
and  artistic  nothings,  particularly  in  painting,  for  which 
he  evinced  a  certain  capability;  but  in  this  direction  he 
accomplished  nothing,  since  he  was  wanting  in  persever- 
ance. He  could  not  be  brought  to  take  up  any  earnest 
thought;  he  had  a  mind  only  for  externals,  was  always 
distracted,  and  serious  things  quickly  wearied  him.  Pre- 
posterous acts,  senseless  journeys,  waste  of  money  and 
debts  repeatedly  occurred  throughout  the  course  of  his  later 
life;  and  even  for  these  positive  faults  in  his  life  he  was 
wanting  in  understanding.  He  was  self-willed  and  intracta- 
ble, and  never  did  well  when  an  attempt  was  made  to 
put  him  on  his  feet  and  point  out  to  him  his  own  interests. 

With  these  manifestations  of  an  original  abnormal  and 
defective  mind,  there  were  notable  indications  of  perverse 
sexual  feeling,  which  were  also  indicated  in  the  somatic 
habitus  of  the  patient.  Sexually,  the  patient  felt  like  a 
woman  toward  men,  and  had  inclinations  toward  people  of 
his  own  sex,  with  indifference,  if  not  actual  disinclination, 
for  females. 

In  his  twenty-second  year  it  was  asserted  that  he  had 
sexual  intercourse  with  women,  and  was  able  to  perform 
the  act  of  coitus  normally;  but,  partly  on  account  of  in- 
crease of  neurasthenic  symptoms  which  was  occasional 
after  coitus,  and  partly  on  account  of  fear  of  infection — 
but  really  by  reason  of  a  want  of  satisfaction — he  soon 
ceased  to  indulge  in  such  intercourse.  Concerning  his 
abnormal  sexual  condition,  he  was  not  quite  clear;  he  was 
conscious  of  an  inclination  toward  the  male  sex,  but  con- 
fessed, only  in  a  shame-faced  way,  that  he  had  certain 


393 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


pleasurable  feelings  of  friendship  for  masculine  individ- 
uals^ which,  however,  were  not  accompanied  by  any  sensual 
feelings.  The  female  sex  he  did  not  exactly  abhor;  he 
could  even  bring  himself  to  marry  a  woman  who  could 
have  an  attraction  for  him,  by  means  of  similarity  in 
artistic  tastes,  if  he  could  but  be  freed  from  conjugal 
duties,  which  were  unpleasant  to  him,  and  the  performance 
of  which  made  him  tired  and  weak.  He  denied  having 
had  sexual  intercourse  with  men,  but  his  blushing  and 
embarrassment,  and,  still  more,  an  occurrence  in  IST.,  where 
the  patient  some  time  before  provoked  a  scandal  by  at- 
tempting to  have  sexual  intercourse  with  youths,  gave  him 
the  lie. 

His  external  appearance  also,  habitus^  form,  gestures, 
manners  and  dress  were  remarkable,  and  decidedly  recalled 
the  feminine  form  and  characteristics.  The  patient,  how- 
ever, was  over  middle  height,  but  thorax  and  pelvis  were 
decidedly  of  feminine  form.  The  body  was  rich  in  fat; 
the  shin  was  well  groomed,  delicate  and  soft.  This  im- 
pression of  a  woman  in  masculine  dress  was  further  in- 
creased by  a  thin  growth  of  hair  on  the  face,  which  was 
shaven,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  moustache;  by  the 
mincing  gait;  the  shy,  effeminate  manner;  the  feminine 
features;  the  swirmning,  neuropathic  expression  of  the 
eyes ;  the  traces  of  powder  and  paint ;  the  curtailed  cut  of 
the  clothing,  with  the  bosom-like  prominence  of  the  upper 
garments;  the  fringed  feminine  cravat;  and  the  hair 
brushed  down  smoothly  from  the  brow  to  the  temples.  The 
physical  examination  made  undoubted  the  feminine  form  of 
the  body.  The  external  genitals  were  well  developed,  though 
the  left  testicle  had  remained  in  the  canal ;  the  growth  of 
hair  on  the  mons  veneris  was  thin,  and  the  latter  was 
unusually  rich  in  fat  and  prominent.  The  voice  was  high, 
and  without  masculine  timbre. 

The  occupation  and  manner  of  thought  of  v.  H.  were 
decidedly  feminine.  He  had  a  boudoir  and  a  well-supplied 
toilet-table,  at  which  he  spent  many  hours  in  all  kinds 
of  arts  for  beautifying  himself.    He  abhorred  the  chase, 


ANDEOGYNY. 


393 


practice  with  arms,  and  such  masculine  pursuits,  and 
called  himself  an  aesthete;  spoke  with  preference  of  his 
paintings  and  attempts  at  poetry.  He  was  interested 
in  feminine  occupations,  in  which — e,g.,  embroidery — 
he  engaged,  and  called  his  greatest  pleasure.  He  could 
spend  his  life  in  an  artistic  and  aesthetic  circle  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  in  conversation,  music  and  aesthetics. 
His  conversation  was  preferably  about  feminine  things, — 
fashions,  needlework,  cooking  and  household  work. 

The  patient  was  well  nourished,  but  anaemic.  He  was 
of  neuropathic  constitution,  and  presented  symptoms  of 
neurasthenia,  which  were  maintained  by  a  bad  manner  of 
life,  lying  abed,  living  in-doors,  and  effeminateness. 

He  complained  of  occasional  pain  and  pressure  in  the 
head,  and  had  habitual  constipation.  He  was  easily  fright- 
ened; complained  of  occasional  lassitude  and  fatigue,  and 
drawing  pains  in  the  extremities,  in  the  direction  of  the 
lumbo-abdominal  nerves.  After  pollutions,  and  regularly 
after  eating,  he  felt  tired  and  relaxed ;  he  was  sensitive  to 
pressure  over  the  spinous  processes  of  the  dorsal  vertebrae, 
as  also  to  pressure  along  accessible  nerves.  He  felt  peculiar 
sympathies  and  antipathies  towards  certain  persons,  and, 
when  he  met  people  for  whom  he  had  an  antipathy,  he 
fell  into  a  condition  of  peculiar  fear  and  confusion.  His 
pollutions,  though  later  on  they  occurred  but  seldom,  were 
pathological,  in  that  they  occurred  by  day,  and  were  un- 
accompanied by  any  sensual  excitement. 

Opinion. 

1.  Mr.  V.  H.,  according  to  all  observations  and  reports, 
was  mentally  an  abnormal  and  defective  person,  and  that, 
in  fact,  ah  origine.  His  antipathic  sexual  instinct  repre- 
sented a  part  of  his  abnormal  physical  and  mental  condi- 
tion. 

2.  This  condition,  in  that  it  was  congenital,  was  in- 
curable. There  existed  defective  organisation  of  the  high- 
est cerebral  centres,  which  rendered  him  incapable  of 


394 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


leading  an  independent  life,  and  of  obtaining  a  position  in 
life.  His  perverse  sexual  instinct  prevented  him  from 
exercising  normal  sexual  functions ;  and  this  v^as  attended 
by  all  the  social  consequences  of  such  an  anomaly,  and 
the  danger  of  satisfaction  of  perverse  impulses  arising  out 
of  his  abnormal  organisation,  with  consequent  social  and 
legal  conflicts.  Fear  of  the  latter,  however,  could  not  be 
great,  since  the  (perverse)  sexual  impulse  of  the  patient 
was  weak. 

3.  Mr.  V.  H.,  in  the  legal  sense  of  the  word,  was  not 
irresponsible,  and  neither  fit  for,  or  in  need  of,  treatment 
in  a  hospital  for  the  insane. 

It  was  possible  for  him — though  but  an  overgrown 
child,  and  incapable  of  personal  independence — to  live  in 
society,  even  under  the  care  and  guidance  of  normal 
individuals.  To  a  certain  extent,  it  was  possible  for  him 
to  respect  the  laws  and  restrictions  of  society,  and  to  judge 
his  own  acts;  but,  with  respect  to  possible  sexual  errors 
and  conflicts  with  criminal  laws,  it  must  be  emphasised 
that  his  sexual  instinct  was  abnormal,  having  its  origin 
in  organic  pathological  conditions;  and  this  circumstance 
should  have  been  eventually  used  in  his  favour.  On  ac- 
count of  his  notorious  lack  of  independence,  he  could  not 
be  discharged  from  parental  care  or  guardianship,  inas- 
much as  otherwise  he  would  be  ruined  financially. 

4.  Mr.  V.  H.  was  also  physically  ill.  He  presented 
signs  of  slight  ana3mia  and  of  neurasthenia  spinalis. 

A  rational  regulation  of  his  manner  of  life  and  a  tonic 
regimen,  and,  if  possible,  hydro-therapeutic  treatment, 
seemed  necessary.  The  suspicion  that  this  trouble  had  its 
origin  in  early  masturbation  should  be  entertained,  and 
the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  spermatorrhoea,  that  is 
of  importance  etiologically  and  therapeutically,  was  proba- 
ble.   (Personal  case.  Zeitschr.  f.  Psychiatric) 


congenital  sexual  inversion  in  woman.  395 
Congenital  Sexual  Inversion  in  Woman/ 

Science  in  its  present  stage  has  but  few  data  to  fall 
back  on,  so  far  as  the  occurrence^  of  homosexual  instinct 
in  woman  is  concerned  as  compared  with  man. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  draw  from  this  the  conclusion 
that  sexual  inversion  in  woman  is  rare,  for  if  this  anomaly 
is  really  a  manifestation  of  functional  degeneration,  then 
degenerative  influences  will  prevail  alike  in  the  female 
as  well  as  in  the  male. 

The  causes  of  apparent  infrequency  in  woman  may  be 
found  in  the  following  facts:  (1)  It  is  more  difficult  to 
gain  the  confidence  of  the  sexually  perverse  woman;  (2) 
this  anomaly,  in  so  far  as  it  leads  to  sexual  intercourse, 
inter  feminas,  does  not  fall  (in  Germany  at  any  rate)  under 
the  criminal  code,  and  therefore  remains  hidden  from 
public  knowledge;  (3)  sexual  inversion  does  not  affect 
woman  in  the  same  manner  as  it  does  man,  for  it  does 
not  render  woman  impotent ;  (4)  because  woman  (whether 
sexually  inverted  or  not)  is  by  nature  not  as  sensual  and 
certainly  not  as  aggressive  in  the  pursuit  of  sexual  needs 
as  man,  for  which  reason  the  inverted  sexual  intercourse 

*  Literature :  Haveloch  ElUSy  "  Alienist  and  Neurologist,"  April, 
1895;  Moll,  "  Contrare  Sexualerapfindung,"  second  edition,  p.  322. — 
Moll,  Contrare  Sexualempfindung,  3rd  ed.,  p.  504. — Moraglia,  Neue 
Forschungen  aus  d.  Grebiet  der  weiblichen  Criminalitat. —  v.  Krafft, 
Jahrb.  f.  sexuelle  Zwischenstufen,  iii.,  p.  20. 

*  Observations :  (1)  Westphal,  "Arch.  f.  Psych.,"  ii.,  p.  73; — 
(2)  Gock,  op.  cit,,  No.  1.;— (3)  Wise,  "The  Alienist  and  Neurol- 
ogist," January,  1883; — (4)  Cwntarano,  "La  Psichiatria,  1883,"  p. 
201; — (5)  B4rieux,  op,  cit.,  obs.  14; — (6)  Kiernan,  op.  cit.; — (7) 
Muller,  Friedreich's  "Blatter  f.  ger.  Med.,"  1891,  Heft  4.;— (8-19) 
Moll,  "  Contrare  Sexualempfindung,"  2  Aufl.  Beob.,  18,  19,  20,  21,  22, 
23;— -(20)  Meyhofer,  "  Zeitsch.  f.  Medicinalbeamte,"  v.,  16;-— (21-22) 
Zuccarelli,  "  Inversione  congenita  in  due  donne,"  Napoli,  1888; — 
(23-33)  Moll,  "  Untersuchungen  iiber  Libido  sexualis,"  Faile  10-12, 
40-44,  47,  56,  57;— (34-36)  Havelock  Ellis,  op.  cit.; — (37)  Penta  e 
Urso,  "  Archiv.  delle  psichopatie  sexuali,"  p.  33; — (38)  Penta,  ihid., 
p.  94. —  (39-40)  Fere,  Finstinct  sexuelle,  observ.  15,  p.  242,  observ.  22, 
p.  291. —  (41)  Case  Urhan  of  the  18th  century,  reported  by  Moll, 
Contr.  Sexualempfindung,  3rd  ed.  p.  533. —  (42-43)  v.  Krafft,  Jahr- 
biicher  fiir  sexuelle  Zwisehenstufen,  iii.,  p.  27  and  29. 


396 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


among  women  is  less  noticeable,  and  by  outsiders  is 
considered  mere  friendship.  Indeed,  there  are  cases  on 
record  (psychical  hermaphroditism,  even  homosexuality) 
in  which  the  causes  of  frigiditas  uxoris  remain  unknown 
even  to  the  husband. 

Certain  passages  in  the  Bible,^  the  history  of  Greece 
(^^Sapphic  Love"),  the  moral  history  of  ancient  Rome 
and  of  the  Middle  Ages,^  offer  proofs  that  congressus  in- 
tersexualis  feminarum  took  place  at  all  times,  the  same 
as  it  is  practised  now-a-days  in  the  harem,  in  female 
prisons,  brothels  and  young  ladies'  seminaries  (vide  infra, 
amor  lesbicus). 

Still  it  must  be  admitted  that  many  of  these  cases 
are  to  be  reduced  to  causes  of  perversity  and  not  per- 
version.^ 

The  chief  reason  why  inverted  sexuality  in  woman 
is  still  covered  with  the  veil  of  mystery  is  that  the  homo- 
sexual act  so  far  as  woman  is  concerned,  does  not  fall 
under  the  law. 

I  cannot  lay  sufficient  stress  upon  the  fact  that  sexual 
acts  between  persons  of  the  same  sex  do  not  necessarily 
constitute  antipathic  sexual  instinct.  The  latter  exists 
only  when  the  physical  and  psychical  secondary  sexual 
characteristics  of  the  same  sex  exert  an  attracting  influ- 
ence over  the  individual  and  provoke  in  him  or  her  the 
impulse  to  sexual  acts. 

^Paul,  Epist.  ad  Rom.  ^  Ploss,  op,  cit, 

'  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  fiction,  lesbic  love  is  frequently 
used  as  the  leading  theme,  viin.,  Diderot,  "  La  Religieuse " ;  Balzac, 
"  La  fille  aux  yeaux  d'or  " ;  Th.  Gautier^  "  Mademoiselle  de  Maupin  " ; 
Feydeau,  "  La  Comtesse  de  chalis  " ;  Flaubert,  "  Salammbo  " ;  Belot, 
"  Mademoiselle  Giraud,  ma  f emme   ;   Rachilde,  "  Monsieur  Venus." 

The  heroines  of  these  (lesbic)  novelles  appear  to  the  beloved 
persons  of  the  same  sex  in  the  character  and  the  role  of  a  man;  their 
love  is  most  intense. 

The  oldest  case  of  sexual  inversion  recorded  thus  far  in  Germany 
is  one  of  viraginity  dating  as  far  back  as  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  It  is  that  of  a  woman  who  was  married  to 
another  woman  cohabiting  with  the  consort  by  means  of  a  leathern 
priapus.  Vide  Dr.  Miiller  in  Friedreich's  "  Blatter  f.  ger.  Med.,"  1891, 
Heft  4.  L 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  397 


I  have  through  long  experience  gained  the  impression 
that  inverted  sexuality  occurs  in  woman  as  frequently 
as  in  man.  But  the  chaster  education  of  the  girl  deprives 
the  sexual  instinct  of  its  predominant  character ;  seduction 
to  mutual  masturbation  is  less  frequent;  the  sexual  in- 
stinct in  the  girl  begins  to  develop  only  when  she  is,  with 
the  advent  of  puberty,  introduced  to  the  society  of  the 
other  sex,  and  is  thus  naturally  led  primarily  into  hetero- 
sexual channels.  All  these  circumstances  work  in  her 
favour,  often  serve  to  correct  abnormal  inclinations  and 
tastes,  and  force  her  into  the  ways  of  normal  sexual  in- 
tercourse. We  may,  however,  safely  assume  that  many 
cases  of  frigidity  or  anaphrodisia  in  married  women  are 
rooted  in  undeveloped  or  suppressed  antipathic  sexual 
instinct. 

The  situation  changes  when  the  predisposed  female  is 
also  tainted  with  other  anomalies  of  an  hypersexual  char- 
acter and  is  led  through  it  or  seduced  by  other  females  to 
masturbation  or  homosexual  acts. 

In  these  cases  we  find  situations  analogous  to  those 
which  have  been  described  as  existing  in  men  afflicted 
with  ^^acquired'^  antipathic  sexual  instinct. 

As  possible  sources  from  which  homosexual  love  in 
woman  may  spring,  the  following  may  be  mentioned: 

1.  Constitutional  hypersexuality  impelling  to  auto- 
masturbation.  This  leads  to  neurasthenia  and  its  evil 
consequences,  to  anaphrodisia  in  the  normal  sexual  inter- 
course so  long  as  libido  remains  active. 

2.  Hypersexuality  also  leads  faute  de  mieux  to  homo- 
sexual intercourse  (inmates  of  prisons,  daughters  of  the 
higher  classes  of  society  who  are  guarded  so  very  care- 
fully in  their  relations  with  men,  or  are  afraid  of  im- 
pregnation,— this  latter  group  is  very  numerous).  Fre- 
quently female  servants  are  the  seducers,  or  lady  friends 
with  perverse  sexual  inclinations,  and  lady  teachers  in 
seminaries. 

3.  Wives  of  impotent  husbands  who  can  only  sexually 
excite,  but  not  satisfy,  woman,  thus  producing  in  her 


398 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


libido  insatiata,  recourse  to  masturbation,  pollutiones  fern- 
ince,  neurasthenia,  nausea  for  coitus  and  ultimately  disgust 
with  the  male  sex  in  general. 

4.  Prostitutes  of  gross  sensuality  who,  disgusted  with 
the  intercourse  with  perverse  and  impotent  men  by  whom 
they  are  used  for  the  performance  of  the  most  revolting 
sexual  acts,  seek  compensation  in  the  sympathetic  embrace 
of  persons  of  their  own  sex.  These  cases  are  of  very  fre- 
quent occurrence. 

Careful  observation  among  the  ladies  of  large  cities 
soon  convinces  one  that  homosexuality  is  by  no  means  a 
rarity.  Uranism  may  nearly  always  be  suspected  in  fe- 
males wearing  their  hair  short,  or  who  dress  in  the  fashion 
of  men,  or  pursue  the  sports  and  pastimes  of  their  male 
acquaintances;  also  in  opera  singers  and  actresses,  who 
appear  in  male  attire  on  the  stage  by  preference. 

So  far  as  the  clinical  aspect  is  concerned  I  may  be 
brief,  for  this  anomaly  shows  the  same  qualifications  alike 
in  man  and  woman,  mutatis  mutandis,  and  runs  through 
the  same  grades.  Psychico-hermaphrodisic  and  many 
homosexual  women  do  not  betray  their  anomaly  by  ex- 
ternal appearances  nor  by  mental  (masculine)  sexual 
characteristics.  Remarkable,  however,  it  is  that  Dr. 
Flatau  (Moll,  op.  cit,,  p.  334)  in  examining  the  larynx  of 
twenty-three  homosexual  women  found  in  several  of  them  a 
decidedly  masculine  formation. 

In  the  transition  to  the  subsequent  grade,  i.e.,  that  of 
viraginity  (analogous  to  effeminatio  in  the  male)  strong 
preference  for  male  garments  will  be  found.  In  dreams, 
but  also  in  the  ideal  or  real  homosexual  function,  the 
individual  in  question  plays  an  indifferent  sexual  role. 

Where  viraginity  is  fully  developed,  the  woman  so 
acting  assumes  definitely  the  masculine  role. 

In  this  grade  modesty  finds  expression  only  towards 
the  same  but  not  the  opposite  sex. 

In  such  cases  the  sexual  anomaly  often  manifests  itself 
by  strongly  marked  characteristics  of  male  sexuality. 

The  female  urning  may  chiefly  be  found  in  the  haunts 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  399 

of  boys.  She  is  the  rival  in  their  play,  preferring  the 
rocking-horse,  playing  at  soldiers,  etc.,  to  dolls  and  other 
girlish  occupations.  The  toilet  is  neglected,  and  rough 
boyish  manners  are  affected.  Love  for  art  finds  a  sub- 
stitute in  the  pursuits  of  the  sciences.  At  times  smoking 
and  drinking  are  cultivated  even  with  passion. 

Perfumes  and  sweetmeats  are  disdained.  The  con- 
sciousness of  being  a  woman  and  thus  to  be  deprived  of 
the  gay  college  life,  or  to  be  barred  out  from  the  military 
career,  produces  painful  reflections. 

The  masculine  soul,  heaving  in  the  female  bosom, 
finds  pleasure  in  the  pursuit  of  manly  sports,  and  in 
manifestations  of  courage  and  bravado.  There  is  a  strong 
desire  to  imitate  the  male  fashion  in  dressing  the  hair 
and  in  general  attire,  under  favourable  circumstances  even 
to  don  male  attire  and  impose  in  it.  Arrests  of  women 
in  men's  clothing  are  by  no  means  of  rare  occurrence. 
A  case  of  a  woman  who  for  years  successfully  posed  as 
a  man  (hunter,  soldier,  etc.,)  is  related  by  Miiller  in 
Friedreich's  ^^Blatter'';  another  by  Wise  (op.  cit.)  and 
others. 

The  ideals  of  such  viragines  are  certain  female  char- 
acters who  in  the  past  or  the  present  have  excelled  by  virtue 
of  genius  and  brave  and  noble  deeds. 

Gynandry  represents  the  extreme  grade  of  degenerative 
homosexuality.  The  woman  of  this  type  possesses  of  the 
feminine  (Qualities  only  the  genital  organs ;  thought,  senti- 
ment, action,  even  external  appearance  are  those  of  the 
man. 

Often  enough  does  one  come  across  in  life  such 
characters,  whose  frame,  pelvis,  gait,  appearance,  coarse 
masculine  features,  rough  deep  voice,  etc.,  betray  rather 
the  man  than  the  woman.  Moll  {op.  cit.  p.  331)  has  given 
many  interesting  items  about  the  mode  of  life  led  by  these 
men-women,  and  about  the  way  in  which  they  satisfy 
their  sexual  needs. 

Mutatis  mutandis,  the  situation  is  the  same  as  with  the 
man-loving  man.     These  creatures  seek,  find,  recognise, 


400 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAXIS. 


love  one  another,  often  live  together  as  ^^father'^  and 
^^mother''  in  pseudo  marriage.  Suspicion  may  always 
be  turned  toward  homosexuality  when  one  reads  in  the 
advertisement  columns  of  the  daily  papers:  ^^Wanted,  by 
a  lady,  a  lady  friend  and  companion". 

Numerous  psychical  hermaphrodites  of  the  female 
gender,  and  even  homosexualists,  enter  upon  matrimony 
with  men  partly  on  account  of  being  ignorant  of  their 
own  anomaly,  and  partly  because  they  wish  to  be  pro- 
vided for.  Some  of  these  marriages  linger  on  in  a  way, 
the  husband,  perhaps,  being  psychically  sympathetic,  thus 
rendering  the  marital  act  possible  to  the  unhappy  wife. 
But  in  most  cases,  when  one  or  two  children  have  been 
born,  she  seeks  under  all  kinds  of  pretexts  to  avoid  the 
connubial  duty. 

More  frequently,  however,  incompatibility  wrecks  these 
unions.  Homosexual  intercourse  continues  after  marriage 
just  the  same  as  with  the  homosexual  man. 

When  viraginity  prevails  marriage  is  impossible,  for 
the  very  thought  of  coitus  cum  viro  arouses  disgust  and 
horror. 

The  intersexual  gratification  among  these  women 
seems  to  be  reduced  to  kissing  and  embraces,  which  seems 
to  satisfy  those  of  weak  sexual  instinct,  but  produces 
in  sexually  neurasthenic  females  ejaculation. 

Automasturbation,  faute  de  mieux,  seems  to  occur  in  all 
grades  of  the  anomaly  the  same  as  in  men. 

Strongly  sensual  individuals  may  resort  to  cunnilingus 
or  mutual  masturbation. 

In  grades  3  and  4  the  desire  to  adopt  the  active  role 
towards  the  beloved  person  of  the  same  sex  seems  to  in* 
vite  the  use  of  the  priapus. 

Case  153.  Psychical  hermaphroditism.  Mrs.  X., 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  suffered  from  neurasthenia.  She 
was  hereditarily  tainted,  suffered  periodically  from  delu- 
sions. She  had  been  married  seven  years,  had  two  healthy 
children^  a  boy  of  six  and  a  girl  of  four  years.    Success  in 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  401 

gaining  the  confidence  of  the  patient.  She  confessed  that 
she  always  inclined  more  to  persons  of  her  own  sex,  and 
that,  although  she  esteemed  and  liked  her  husband,  sexual 
intercourse  disgusted  her.  Since  the  birth  of  the  younger 
of  the  two  children  she  had  prevailed  upon  him  to  give  it 
up  altogether.  When  at  the  seminary  she  interested  her- 
self in  other  young  ladies  in  a  manner  which  she  could  only 
describe  as  love.  At  times,  however,  she  also  found  her- 
self drawn  to  certain  gentlemen,  and  especially  of  late 
her  virtue  had  been  sorely  tried  by  an  admirer  to  whose 
advances  she  was  afraid  she  might  succumb,  for  which 
reason  she  avoided  being  alone  with  him.  But  such 
episodes  were  only  of  a  quite  transient  character  as  com- 
pared with  her  passionate  liking  for  persons  of  her  own 
sex.  Her  whole  desire  was  to  be  kissed  and  embraced  by 
them  and  have  the  most  intimate  intercourse  with  them. 
She  suffered  much  from  nervousness  because  she  could 
not  always  realise  these  desires.  The  patient  is  not 
aware  of  this  inclination  to  persons  of  the  same  sex  being 
of  a  sexual  character,  for  beyond  kissing,  embracing,  or 
fondling  them  she  would  not  know  what  to  do  with  them. 
Patient  thought  herself  to  be  of  a  sensual  nature.  It  was 
likely  that  she  was  addicted  to  masturbation. 

She  considered  her  sexual  perversion  as  "unnatural, 
morbid." 

There  was  nothing  in  the  behaviour  or  the  manners  or 
the  external  appearance  of  this  lady  which  in  the  least 
betrayed  her  anomaly. 

Case  154.  Psychical  hermaphroditism.  Mrs.  M., 
forty-four  years  of  age,  claimed  to  be  an  instance  illus- 
trating the  fact  that  in  one  and  the  same  human  being,  be 
it  man  or  woman,  the  inverted  as  well  as  the  normal  di- 
rection of  sexual  life  may  be  combined.  The  father  of  this 
lady  was  very  musical,  generally  possessed  considerable 
talents  for  art,  was  a  great  admirer  of  the  gentle  sex,  and 
himself  of  exceptional  beauty.  He  died,  after  repeated 
apoplectic  attacks,  with  dementia  in  an  asylum.  His 

26 


402 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


brother  was  neuropsychopathic,  as  a  child  was  afflicted  with 
somnambulism,  and  later  on  with  hypercesthesia  sexualis. 
Although  married  and  father  of  several  married  sons,  he 
fell  desperately  in  love  with  Mrs.  M.,  then  eighteen  years 
of  age,  and  attempted  to  abduct  her. 

Her  grandfather  (on  the  paternal  side)  was  very  ec- 
centric and  a  well  known  artist,  who  had  originally  studied 
theology,  but  for  love  of  the  dramatic  art  became  a  mimic 
and  singer.  He  was  given  to  excess  in  BaccJio  ei  Venere, 
extravagant  and  fond  of  splendour,  and  died  at  the  age  of 
forty-nine  from  apoplexia  cerebri.  Her  mother's  father 
and  her  mother  both  died  of  pulmonary  phthisis. 

She  had  eleven  brothers  and  sisters,  but  only  six  sur- 
vived. Two  brothers  died  at  the  age  of  sixteen  and  twenty 
of  tuberculosis.  One  brother  was  suffering  from  laryngeal 
phthisis.  Four  living  sisters  the  same  as  Mrs.  M.  were 
physically  like  unto  the  father,  very  nervous  and  shy. 
Two  younger  sisters  were  married  and  in  good  health,  and 
both  had  healthy  children.  Another  one,  a  maiden,  was 
suffering  from  nervous  affection. 

Mrs.  M.  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  mostly  deli- 
cate and  neuropathic. 

There  was  nothing  of  importance  in  the  history  of  the 
patient's  childhood.  She  learned  easily,  had  gifts  for 
poetry  and  aesthetics,  was  somewhat  affected,  loved  to 
read  novels  and  sentimental  literature,  was  of  neuropathic 
constitution  and  very  sensitive  to  changes  of  temperature, 
the  slightest  draught  would  make  her  flesh  creep.  It  is 
noteworthy,  however,  that  one  day  when  ten  years  of  age 
she  fancied  her  mother  did  not  love  her.  Thereupon  she 
put  a  lot  of  sulphur  matches  in  her  coffee  and  drank  it  to 
make  herself  ill,  in  order  to  draw  her  mother's  love  to 
herself. 

Puberty  began  without  difficulty  at  the  age  of  eleven, 
with  subsequent  regular  menses.  Even  previous  to  that 
period  sexual  life  had  awakened,  which  ever  since  was 
very  potent.  The  first  sentiments  and  emotions  lay  in 
^he  homosexual  direction.     She  conceived  a  passionate, 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  403 

though  platonic,  affection  for  a  young  lady,  wrote  love- 
songs  and  sonnets  to  her,  and  never  was  happier  than 
when,  upon  one  occasion,  she  could  admire  the  ^ ^charms 
of  her  beloved"  in  the  bath,  or  when  she  could  gaze 
upon  the  neck,  shoulders  and  breasts  of  this  lady  whilst 
dressing.  She  could  resist  only  with  difficulty  the  desire 
to  touch  these  physical  charms.  When  a  girl  she  was 
deeply  in  love  with  Raphael's  and  Guido  Renins  Madonnas. 
She  was  irresistibly  impelled  to  follow  pretty  girls  and 
ladies  by  the  hour,  no  matter  how  inclement  the  weather 
might  be,  admiring  their  air  of  refinement  and  watching 
for  a  chance  of  showing  them  a  favour,  giving  them 
flowers,  etc.  The  patient  asserted  that  up  to  her  nineteenth 
year  she  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  difference 
of  sexes,  since  she  had  been  brought  up  by  a  prudish  old 
maiden  aunt  like  a  nun  in  a  cloister.  In  consequence  of 
this  crass  ignorance  she  fell  a  victim  to  a  man  who  loved 
her  passionately  and  insidiously  betrayed  her  virtue.  She 
became  the  wife  of  this  man,  gave  birth  to  a  child,  and 
led  an  "eccentrically"  sexual  life  with  him,  but  felt  sat- 
isfied with  the  sexual  intercourse.  A  few  years  later 
she  became  a  widow.  Since  then  her  affections  again 
turned  to  persons  of  her  own  sex,  the  principal  reason  for 
which  was,  the  patient  averred,  the  fear  of  the  results  of 
sexual  intercourse  with  man. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  she  entered  upon  a  second 
marriage  with  a  man  of  infirm  constitution.  It  was  not 
a  love  match.  Thrice  she  became  a  mother,  and  fulfilled 
all  the  conditions  of  maternity;  but  her  health  ran  down, 
and  during  the  latter  years  her  dislike  for  coitus  ever 
increased,  chiefly  on  account  of  her  husband's  infirmity, 
although  her  desire  for  sexual  gratification  remained 
strong. 

Three  years  after  her  second  husband's  death,  she  dis- 
covered that  her  daughter  by  the  first  husband,  now  nine 
years  of  age,  was  given  to  masturbation  and  going  into 
decline.  She  read  an  article  about  this  vice  in  the  Ency- 
clopcedia,  and  now  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  try 


404 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


it  herself  and  thus  became  an  onanist.  She  hesitated  to 
give  a  full  account  of  this  period  of  her  life.  She  stated, 
however,  that  she  became  sexually  so  excited  that  she  had 
to  send  her  two  daughters  away  from  home  in  order  to 
preserve  them  from  something  ^^terrible".  The  two  boys 
could  remain  at  home. 

Patient  became  neurasthenic  ex  masturbatione  (spinal 
irritation,  pressure  in  the  head,  languor,  mental  constipa- 
tion, etc.)  at  times  even  dysthymic,  with  worrying  tcedium 
vitce. 

Her  sexual  inclinations  turned  now  to  woman,  now 
to  man.  But  she  controlled  herself,  suffered  much  from 
her  abstinence,  especially  since  she  resorted  to  mastur- 
bation on  account  of  her  neurasthenic  afflictions  only  at 
the  last  instance.  At  the  age  of  forty-four — still  having 
regular  periods — the  patient  suffered  from  a  violent  pas- 
sion for  a  young  man  with  whom,  on  account  of  her  avoca- 
tion, she  was  bound  to  be  in  constant  contact. 

The  patient  did  not  offer  anything  extraordinary  in 
her  external  appearance,  though  graceful  of  build,  she  was 
slight  of  form.  Pelvis  decidedly  feminine,  but  arms  and 
legs  large,  and  of  pronounced  masculine  type.  Female 
boots  did  not  really  fit  her,  and  she  had  quite  crippled 
and  malformed  her  feet  by  forcing  them  into  narrow 
shoes.  Genitals  quite  normal.  Excepting  a  descensus 
uteri  with  hypertrophy  of  the  vaginal  portion,  no  changes 
were  noticeable.  She  still  claimed  to  be  essentially  homo- 
sexual, and  declared  that  her  inclination  and  desire  for  the 
opposite  sex  were  only  periodical  and  grossly  sejisual.  Al- 
though she  had  strong  sexual  feelings  towards  the  man 
aforementioned,  yet  her  greatest  and  noblest  pleasure  she 
found  in  pressing  a  kiss  upon  the  soft  cheek  of  a  sweet 
girl.  This  pleasure  she  enjoyed  often,  for  she  was  the 
^^favourite  aunt"  among  these  ^^dear  creatures,"  to  whom 
she  rendered  the  services  of  the  ^^cavalier"  unstintingly, 
always  feeling  herself  in  the  role  of  the  man. 

Case  155,  Homosexuality.   Miss  L.,  fifty-five  years 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  405 

of  age.  No  information  about  her  father's  family.  The 
parents  of  her  mother  were  described  as  irascible,  ca- 
pricious and  nervous.  One  brother  of  her  mother  was  an 
epileptic,  another  eccentric  and  mentally  abnormal. 

Mother  was  sexually  hypersesthetic,  and  for  a  long 
time  a  messalina.  She  was  considered  to  be  psychopathic 
and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine  of  cerebral  disease. 

Miss  L.  developed  normally,  had  only  slight  illnesses 
in  childhood,  and  was  mentally  well  endowed,  but  of  a 
neuropathic  constitution,  emotional,  and  troubled  with 
numerous  fads. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen,  two  years  previous  to  her  first 
menstruation,  she  fell  in  love  with  a  girl-friend  (^^a  dreamy 
feeling,  quite  pure  of  sensuality"). 

Her  second  love  was  for  a  girl  older  than  herself  who 
was  a  bride;  this  was  accompanied  by  tantalising  sensual 
desires,  jealousy,  and  an  ^'undefined  consciousness  of  mys- 
tical impropriety".  She  was  refused  by  this  lady  and 
now  fell  in  love  with  a  married  woman,  who  was  a  mother 
and  twenty  years  her  senior.  As  she  controlled  her  sensual 
emotions,  this  lady  never  even  divined  the  true  reason  of 
this  enthusiastic  friendship  which  lasted  for  twelve  years. 
Patient  described  this  period  as  a  veritable  martyrdom. 

Since  she  was  twenty-five  she  had  begun  to  mastur- 
bate. Patient  seriously  thought  that,  perhaps,  by  marriage 
she  might  save  herself,  but  her  conscience  objected,  for 
her  children  might  inherit  her  weakness,  or  she  might 
make  a  sincere  husband  unhappy. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  she  was  approached  with 
direct  proposals  by  a  girl  who  denounced  abstinence  as 
absurd,  and  plainly  described  the  homosexual  instinct 
which  ruled  her  and  was  very  impetuous  in  her  demands. 
She  suffered  the  caresses  of  the  girl,  but  would  not  con- 
sent to  sexual  intercourse,  as  sensuality  without  love  dis- 
gusted her. 

Mentally  and  bodily  dissatisfied  the  years  fled  by, 
leaving  the  consciousness  of  a  spoiled  life.  Now  and  then 
she  became  enthusiastic  about  ladies  of  her  acquaintance, 


406 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


but  controlled  herself.  Slie  also  rid  herself  from  mastur- 
bation. 

When  she  was  thirty-eight  years  of  age  she  became 
acquainted  with  a  girl  nineteen  years  her  junior,  of  ex- 
ceptional beauty,  who  came  from  a  demoralized  family, 
and  had  been  at  an  early  age  seduced  by  her  cousins  to 
mutual  masturbation.  It  could  not  be  ascertained  whether 
this  girl  A.  was  a  case  of  psychical  hermaphrodism  or  of 
acquired  sexual  inversion.  The  former  hypothesis  seems 
the  likelier  of  the  two. 

The  following  is  taken  from  an  autobiography  of  Miss 
L.  :— 

^^Miss  A.,  my  pupil,  began  to  show  me  her  idolatrous 
love.  She  was  sympathetic  to  the  highest  degree.  Since 
I  knew  that  she  was  entangled  in  a  hopeless  love  affair 
with  a  dissolute  fellow  and  continued  intimate  intercourse 
with  demoralised  female  cousins,  I  decided  not  to  repulse 
her.  Compassion  and  the  conviction  that  she  was  surely 
drifting  into  moral  decay  determined  me  to  suffer  her 
advances. 

^^I  did  not  consider  her  affection  as  dangerous,  as  I  did 
not  think  it  possible  that  (considering  her  love  affair)  in 
ONE  soul  two  passions  (one  for  a  man  and  another  for  a 
woman)  could  exist  simultaneously.  Moreover,  I  was 
certain  of  my  power  of  resistance.  I  kept,  therefore.  Miss 
A.  about  me,  renewed  my  moral  resolutions,  and  con- 
sidered it  to  be  my  duty  to  use  her  love  for  me  for  en- 
nobling her  character.  The  folly  of  this  I  soon  found 
out.  One  day  whilst  I  lay  asleep  Miss  A.  took  occasion 
to  satisfy  her  lust  on  me.  Although  I  woke  up  just  in 
time,  I  did  not  have  the  moral  strength  to  resist  her.  I 
was  highly  excited,  intoxicated  as  it  were — and  she  pre- 
vailed. 

^^What  I  suffered  immediately  after  this  occurrence 
beggars  description.  Worry  over  the  broken  resolutions, 
which  to  keep  I  had  made  such  strenuous  efforts,  fear  of 
detection  and  subsequent  contempt,  exuberant  joy  at  last 
to  be  rid  of  the  torturing  watchings  and  longings  of  the 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  IlSrVERSIOlSr  IN  WOMAN.  407 


single  state,  unspeakable  sensual  pleasure,  wrath  against 
the  evil  companion,  mingled  with  feelings  of  the  deepest 
tenderness  towards  her.  Miss  A.  calmly  smiled  at  my 
excitement,  and  with  caresses  soothed  my  anger. 

^^I  accepted  the  situation.  Our  intimacy  lasted  for 
years.  We  practised  mutual  masturbation,  but  never  to 
excess  or  in  a  cynical  fashion. 

^^Little  by  little  this  sensual  companionship  ceased. 
Miss  A.'s  tenderness  weakened;  mine,  however,  remained 
as  before,  although  I  felt  no  longer  the  same  sensual 
cravings.  Miss  A.  thought  of  marriage,  partly  in  order  to 
find  a  home,  but  especially  because  her  sensual  desires  had 
turned  into  the  normal  paths.  She  succeeded  in  finding 
a  husband.  I  sincerely  hope  she  will  make  him  happy, 
but  I  doubt  it.  Thus  I  have  the  prospect  before  me  to 
linger  on  the  same  joyless,  peaceless  life  as  it  ever  was  in 
youthful  days. 

^^It  is  with  sadness  that  I  remember  the  years  of  our 
loving  union.  It  does  not  disturb  my  conscience  to  have 
had  sexual  intercourse  with  Miss  A.,  for  I  succumbed  to 
her  seduction,  having  honestly  endeavoured  to  save  her 
from  moral  ruin  and  to  bring  her  up  an  educated  and 
moral  being.  In  this  I  honestly  think  I  have  succeeded 
after  all.  Besides,  I  rest  in  the  thought  that  the  moral 
code  is  established  only  for  normal  humans,  but  is  not 
binding  for  anomalies.  Of  course,  the  human  being  who 
is  endowed  by  nature  with  sentiments  of  refinement,  but 
whose  constitution  is  abnormal  and  outside  the  conven- 
tionalities of  society,  can  never  be  truly  happy.  But  I 
experienced  a  sad  tranquillity  and  felt  happy  when  I 
thought  Miss  A.  to  be  so  too. 

^^This  is  the  history  of  an  unhappy  woman  who,  by 
the  fatal  caprice  of  nature,  is  deprived  of  all  joy  of  life 
and  made  a  victim  of  sorrow.'' 

The  author  of  this  woeful  story  was  a  lady  of  great 
refinement.  But  she  had  coarse  features,  a  powerful  but 
throughout  feminine  frame.  She  passed  through  the 
climacterium  without  trouble,  and  since  then  had  been 


408 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


entirely  free  from  sensual  worry.  Sexually  she  had  never 
played  a  defined  role  towards  the  woman  she  loved;  for 
men  she  never  felt  the  slightest  inclination. 

Her  statements  about  the  family  relations  and  the 
health  of  her  paramour,  Miss  A.,  establish  a  heavy  taint 
beyond  doubt.  The  father  died  in  an  insane  asylum,  the 
mother  was  deranged  during  the  period  of  her  climaC" 
terium,  neuroses  were  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  family, 
and  Miss  A.  herself  suffered  at  times  heavily  from  hystero- 
pathy,  with  hallucinations  and  delirium. 

Case  156.  Homosexuality,  S.  J.,  age  thirty-eight, 
governess.  Came  to  me  for  medical  advice  on  account 
of  nervous  trouble.  Father  was  periodically  insane,  and 
died  from  cerebral  disease.  Patient  was  an  only  child. 
She  suffered  early  from  anxiety  and  alarming  fancies, 
e.g,^  that  she  would  wake  up  in  a  coffin  after  it  had  been 
fastened  down;  that  she  would  forget  something  when 
going  to  confession,  and  thus  receive  holy  communion 
unworthily.  Was  often  troubled  with  headaches,  very 
excitable,  easily  startled,  but  notwithstanding  had  a  great 
desire  to  see  exciting  things  such  as  funerals,  etc. 

From  the  earliest  youth  she  was  subject  to  sexual 
excitement,  and  spontaneously  practised  masturbation. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  she  began  to  menstruate.  Her 
periods  were  often  accompanied  by  colicky  pains,  intense 
sexual  excitement,  neuralgia  and  mental  depression.  With 
the  age  of  eighteen  she  gave  up  masturbation  successfully. 

The  patient  never  experienced  an  inclination  towards 
a  person  of  the  opposite  sex.  Marriage  to  her  only  meant 
to  find  a  home.  But  she  was  mightily  drawn  to  girls. 
At  first  she  considered  this  affection  merely  as  friendship, 
but  she  soon  recognised  from  the  intensity  of  her  love 
for  girl  friends  and  her  deep  longings  for  their  constant 
society  that  it  meant  more  than  mere  friendship. 

To  her  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  girl  could  love  a  man, 
although  she  can  comprehend  the  feeling  of  man  toward 
woman.    She  always  took  the  deepest  interest  in  pretty 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  409 

girls  and  ladies,  the  sight  of  whom  caused  her  intense 
excitement.  Her  desire  was  ever  to  embrace  and  kiss 
these  dear  creatures.  She  never  dreamed  of  men,  always 
of  girls  only.  To  revel  in  looking  at  them  was  the  acme 
of  pleasure.  Whenever  she  lost  a  ^^girl  friend"  she  felt 
in  despair. 

Patient  claimed  that  she  never  felt  in  a  defined  role, 
even  in  her  dreams,  towards  her  girl  friends.  In  appear- 
ance she  was  thoroughly  feminine  and  modest.  Feminine 
pelvis,  large  mammae,  no  indication  of  beard. 

Case  157.  Homosexuality.  Mrs.  R.,  aged  thirty-five, 
of  high  social  position,  was  brought  to  me  in  1886  by  her 
husband  for  advice. 

Father  was  a  physician;  very  neuropathic.  Paternal 
grandfather  was  healthy  and  normal,  and  reached  the  age 
of  ninety-six.  Pacts  concerning  paternal  grandmother 
are  wanting.  All  the  children  of  father's  family  were  said 
to  have  been  nervous.  The  patient's  mother  was  nervous, 
and  suffered  with  asthma.  The  mother's  parents  were 
healthy.    One  of  the  mother's  sisters  had  melancholia. 

Prom  her  tenth  year  patient  had  been  subject  to 
habitual  headache.  With  the  exception  of  measles,  she 
had  no  illness.  She  was  gifted,  and  enjoyed  the  best  of 
training,  having  especial  talent  for  music  and  languages. 
It  became  necessary  for  her  to  prepare  herself  for  the 
work  of  a  governess,  and  during  her  earlier  years  she 
was  mentally  overworked.  She  passed  through  an  attack 
of  melancholia  sine  delirioj  of  some  months'  duration,  at 
seventeen.  The  patient  asserted  that  she  had  always  had 
sympathy  only  for  her  own  sex,  and  found  only  an  aesthetic 
interest  in  men.  She  never  had  any  taste  for  female  work, 
As  a  little  girl,  she  preferred  to  play  with  boys. 

She  said  she  remained  well  until  her  twenty-seventh 
year.  Then,  without  external  cause,  she  became  depressed 
and  considered  herself  a  bad,  sinful  person,  had  no  plea- 
sure in  anything,  and  was  sleepless.  During  this  time  of 
illness  she  was  also  troubled  with  delusions:  she  must 


410 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXITALIS. 


think  of  her  death  and  that  of  her  relatives.  Recovery 
after  about  five  months.  She  then  became  a  governess, 
was  overworked,  but  remained  well,  except  for  occasional 
neurasthenic  symptoms  and  spinal  irritation. 

At  twenty-eight  she  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  lady 
five  years  younger  than  herself.  She  fell  in  love  with 
her,  and  her  love  was  returned.  The  love  was  very  sensual, 
and  satisfied  by  mutual  masturbation.  ^^I  loved  her  as 
a  god ;  hers  is  a  noble  soul,''  she  said,  when  she  mentioned 
this  love-bond.  It  lasted  four  years  and  was  ended  by  the 
(unfortunate) marriage  of  her  friend. 

In  1885,  after  much  emotional  strain,  the  patient  be- 
came ill  with  symptoms  of  hystero-neurasthenia  (dyspep- 
sia, spinal  irritation,  and  tonic  spasmodic  attacks;  attacks 
of  hemiopia  with  migraine  and  transitory  aphasia; 
pruritus  pudendi  et  ani).  In  February,  1886,  these  symp- 
toms disappeared. 

In  March  she  became  acquainted  with  her  present 
husband,  whom  she  married  without  taking  much  time 
for  reflection;  for  he  was  rich,  much  in  love  with  her, 
and  his  character  was  in  sympathy  with  her  own. 

On  6th  April,  she  read  the  sentence,  ^^Death  misses 
no  one."  Like  a  flash  of  lightning  in  a  clear  sky,  the 
former  delusions  of  death  returned.  She  was  forced  to 
meditate  on  the  most  horrible  manner  of  death  for 
herself  and  those  about  her,  and  constantly  imagined 
death-scenes.  She  lost  rest  and  sleep,  and  took  no 
pleasure  in  anything.  Her  condition  improved.  Late  in 
May,  1886,  she  was  married,  but  was  still  troubled  by 
painful  thoughts  at  that  time:  that  she  would  bring 
misfortune  on  her  husband  and  those  about  her. 

First  coitus  on  6th  June,  1886.  She  was  deeply  de- 
pressed morally  by  it.  She  had  no  such  conception 
of  matrimony.  The  husband,  who  really  loved  his  wife, 
did  all  he  could  to  quiet  her.  He  consulted  physicians, 
who  thought  all  would  be  well  after  pregnancy.  The 
husband  was  unable  to  explain  the  peculiar  behaviour 
of  his  wife.    She  was  friendly  toward  him,  and  suffered 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  41! 

his  caresses.  In  coitus,  which  was  actually  carried  out, 
she  was  entirely  passive,  and  after  the  act  she  was  tired, 
exhausted  all  day  long,  nervous,  and  troubled  with  spinal 
irritation. 

A  bridal  tour  brought  about  a  meeting  with  her  old 
friend,  who  had  lived  in  an  unhappy  marriage  for  three 
years.  The  two  ladies  trembled  with  joy  and  excitement 
as  they  sank  into  each  other's  arms,  and  became  insepar- 
able. The  husband  saw  that  this  friendly  relation  was 
a  peculiar  one,  and  hastened  their  departure.  He  had  an 
opportunity  of  ascertaining,  through  the  correspondence 
of  his  wife  with  this  friend,  that  the  letters  interchanged 
were  like  those  of  two  lovers. 

Mrs.  R.  became  pregnant.  During  pregnancy  the 
remains  of  depression  and  delusions  disappeared.  In 
September,  during  about  the  ninth  week  of  pregnancy, 
abortion  took  place.  After  that,  renewed  symptoms  of 
hystero-neurasthenia.  In  addition  to  this,  there  were 
anteflexio  et  latero-positio  dextra  uteri,  anaemia,  et  atonia 
ventriculi. 

At  the  consultation  the  patient  gave  the  impression 
of  a  very  neuropathic,  tainted  person.  The  neuropathic 
expression  of  the  eyes  cannot  be  described.  Appearance 
entirely  feminine.  With  the  exception  of  a  very  narrow 
arched  palate,  there  was  no  skeletal  abnormality.  With 
difficulty  the  patient  could  be  brought  to  give  the  details 
of  her  sexual  abnormality.  She  complained  that  she  had 
married  without  knowing  what  marriage  between  men 
and  women  was.  She  loved  her  husband  dearly  for  his 
mental  qualities,  but  marital  intercourse  was  a  pain  to 
her;  she  did  it  unwillingly,  without  ever  finding  any 
satisfaction  in  it.  Post  actum,  all  day  long  she  was  weary 
and  exhausted.  Since  the  abortion  and  the  interdiction 
of  sexual  intercourse  by  the  physicians,  she  had  been 
better;  but  she  thought  of  the  future  with  horror.  She 
esteemed  her  husband,  and  loved  him  mentally;  but  she 
would  do  anything  for  him,  if  he  would  but  avoid  her 
sexually  in  the  future.    She  hoped  to  have  sexual  feeling 


412 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


for  him  in  time.  When  he  played  the  violin,  she  seemed 
to  feel  the  beginning  of  an  inclination  for  him  that  was 
something  more  than  friendship;  but  it  was  only  tran- 
sitory, and  she  could  get  no  assurance  for  the  future 
in  it.  Her  greatest  happiness  was  in  correspondence  with 
her  former  lover.  She  felt  that  this  was  wrong,  but  she 
could  not  give  it  up ;  for  to  do  so  made  her  miserable. 

Case  158.  Homosexuality.    Miss  X.,  of  the  middle 

class  in  a  large  city.  At  the  end  of  my  observations  she 
was  twenty-two  years  of  age. 

She  was  considered  a  beauty;  much  admired  by  men; 
decidedly  sensual;  a  born  Aspasia;  refused  all  proposals 
of  marriage.  She  reciprocated,  however,  the  advances  of 
one  admirer,  a  youthful  scholar,  entertained  relations  with 
him,  that  is  to  say,  she  allowed  him  to  kiss  her,  but  not 
as  a  lover.  When  on  one  occasion,  Mr.  T.  thought  he  had 
obtained  the  aim  of  his  attentions,  she  begged  him  under 
tears  to  desist,  alleging  that  her  refusal  was  not  based 
upon  moral  principles,  but  rooted  in  deeper  psychical 
reasons.  Subsequently  epistolary  correspondence  between 
the  two  disclosed  the  existence  of  sexual  inversion. 

Her  father  was  given  to  drink,  her  mother  hystero 
pathic.  She  herself  was  of  neuropathic  constitution,  had  a 
large  bust  and  the  appearance  of  an  exceptionally  hand- 
some woman,  but  was  strikingly  mannish  in  her  manners, 
had  masculine  tastes,  loved  gymnastics  and  horseback 
exercise,  smoked,  and  had  masculine  carriage  and  gait, 
She  would  like  to  go  on  the  stage. 

Recently  she  caused  much  talk  on  account  of  her  en- 
thusiastic friendships  with  young  ladies.  One  young  lady 
lived  with  her.    They  slept  in  the  same  bed. 

Up  to  her  puberty  Miss  X.  claimed  to  have  been  sex- 
ually indifferent. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen,  whilst  at  a  spa,  she  made  the 
acquaintance  of  a  young  foreigner  whose  ^^royal'^  appear- 
ance fascinated  her.  She  was  happy  when,  on  a  certain 
occasion,  she  could  dance  with  him  the  whole  evening. 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  413 


The  next  evening  at  twilight  she  happened  to  witness  the 
revolting  scene  of  this  charming  young  man  right  opposite 
from  her  window  in  the  shrubbery  of  the  gardens  futuare 
more  bestiarum  mulierem  quondam  inter  menstruationem. 
Aspectu  sanguinis  currentis  et  libidinis  quasi  bestialis  viri 
Miss  X.  was  horrified;,  almost  annihilated,  and  felt  it 
difficult  to  recover  her  mental  balance.  For  a  long  time 
she  lost  her  sleep  and  appetite,  and  from  that  time  she 
saw  in  man  only  the  embodiment  of  coarse  vulgarity. 

Two  years  later,  in  a  public  park,  she  was  approached 
by  a  young  lady  who  smiled  and  looked  upon  her  in  such 
a  peculiar  fashion  that  she  felt  a  thrill  through  her  soul. 

The  day  after.  Miss  X.  was  irresistibly  impelled  to  go 
to  the  park  again.  The  young  lady  was  already  there, 
and  seemed  to  be  waiting  for  her.  They  greeted  each 
other  like  old  acquaintances;  talked  and  joked  together, 
made  fresh  appointments,  and  when  the  weather  became 
too  inclement  they  met  at  the  boudoir  of  the  young  lady. 

^^One  day,"  Miss  X.  relates  in  her  confidential  revela- 
tions, ^^she  led  me  to  her  divan,  and  whilst  she  was  seated 
I  knelt  down  at  her  feet.  She  fastened  her  timid  eyes 
upon  me,  stroked  away  the  hair  from  my  forehead,  and 
said,  ^Ah !  if  I  only  could  love  you  once  really !  May  I V 
I  consented,  and  whilst  we  thus  sat  together,  gazing  into 
each  other's  eyes,  we  drifted  into  that  current  which  al- 
lows of  no  retreat.  .  .  .  She  was  enchantingly  beauti- 
ful. All  I  wished  was  to  possess  the  power  of  the  artist 
to  immortalise  that  form  upon  the  canvas.  To  me  it  was 
a  novel  experience.  I  was  intoxicated.  We  abandoned 
ourselves  to  each  other  without  restriction,  drunk  with 
the  ravages  of  sensual  feminine  pleasure.  I  do  not  believe 
that  man  can  ever  grasp  the  exuberance  of  such  piquant 
tenderness;  man  is  not  sufficiently  refined;  he  is  much 
too  coarse.  •  .  .  Our  wild  orgy  lasted  until  I  sank  down 
exhausted,  powerless,  unnerved.  I  fell  asleep  on  her  bed. 
Suddenly  I  awoke  with  an  unspeakable  thrill,  hitherto 
unknown  to  me,  running  through  my  whole  being.  She 
was  upon  me — cunnilingum  perficiens — the  highest  plea- 


414 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sure  for  her,  tandem  mihi  non  licebat  altrum  quam  osculos 
dare  ad  mammas,  which  caused  her  to  quiver  convulsively. 

^^This  intercourse  lasted  for  a  v^hole  year,  when  the 
removal  of  her  father  to  another  city  separated  us.'' 

Miss  X.  admitted  that  in  this  homosexual  intercourse 
she  always  felt  in  the  role  of  man  towards  the  woman, 
and  that  on  one  occasion,  faute  de  mieux,  she  granted 
cunnilingus  to  one  of  her  male  admirers. 

Case  159.  Homosexuality.  Mrs.  0.,  aged  thirty-two 
wife  of  an  official,  a  large,  not  uncomely  woman,  feminine 
in  appearance,  came  of  a  neuropathic  and  emotional 
mother.  A  brother  was  psychopathic,  and  died  of  drink. 
Patient  was  always  peculiar,  obstinate,  silent,  quick-tem- 
pered, and  eccentric.  The  brothers  and  sisters  were  ex- 
citable people.  Pulmonary  phthisis  had  been  frequent 
in  the  family.  When  only  a  girl  of  thirteen,  with  signs 
of  great  sexual  excitement,  she  attracted  attention  by 
enthusiastic  love  for  a  female  friend  of  her  own  age.  Her 
education  was  strict,  though  the  patient  secretly  read  many 
novels,  and  wrote  innumerable  poems.  She  married  at 
eighteen  to  free  herself  from  unpleasant  circumstances 
at  home. 

She  said  she  had  always  been  indifferent  toward  men. 
In  fact,  she  avoided  balls.  Female  statues  pleased  her. 
Her  greatest  happiness  was  to  think  of  marriage  with 
a  beloved  woman.  She  was  not  aware  of  her  sexual 
peculiarity  until  marriage,  and  the  thing  had  remained 
inexplicable  to  her.  Patient  did  her  marital  duty,  and 
bore  three  children,  two  of  whom  were  subject  to  con- 
vulsions. She  lived  pleasantly  with  her  husband,  but  she 
esteemed  him  only  for  his  moral  qualities.  She  gladly 
avoided  coitus.  ^^I  should  have  preferred  intercourse  with 
a  woman." 

Until  1878  she  had  been  neurasthenic.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  a  sojourn  at  a  watering-place  she  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  female  urning,  whose  history  I  have 
reported  as  case  6,  in  the  ^^Irrenfreund,"  Ko,  1,  1884, 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVEKSIOlSr  IN  WOMAN.  415' 

The  patient  came  home  a  changed  person.  Her 
husband  said:  ^^She  was  no  longer  a  woman^  no  longer 
had  any  love  for  me  and  the  children,  and  would  have 
no  more  of  marital  approaches.  She  was  inflamed  with 
passionate  love  for  her  female  friend,  and  had  taste  for 
nothing  else.''  After  the  husband  forbade  her  lover  the 
house,  there  was  interchange  of  letters  with  such  expres- 
sions in  them  as  ^^My  dove!  I  live  only  for  you,  my 
soul."  There  were  meetings  and  frightful  excitement 
when  an  expected  letter  did  not  come.  The  relation  was 
in  nowise  platonic.  From  certain  indications  it  was  pre- 
sumable that  mutual  masturbation  was  the  means  of  sexual 
satisfaction.  This  relation  lasted  until  1882,  and  made  the 
patient  decidedly  neurasthenic. 

She  absolutely  neglected  the  house,  and  her  husband 
hired  a  woman  of  sixty  years  as  a  housekeeper,  and  also 
a  governess  for  the  children.  The  patient  fell  in  love 
with  both,  who,  at  least,  allowed  caresses,  and  profited  ma- 
terially through  the  love  of  their  mistress. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1883,  on  account  of  developing 
pulmonary  tuberculosis,  she  had  to  go  south.  There  she 
became  acquainted  with  a  Russian  lady  of  forty  years,  and 
fell  passionately  in  love  with  her;  but  she  did  not  meet 
with  a  return  of  love  in  her  sense.  One  day  insanity  be- 
came manifest.  She  thought  the  Russian  lady  a  nihilist; 
that  she  was  magnetised  by  her;  and  she  presented  formal 
persecutory  delusions.  She  fled,  was  caught  in  an  Italian 
city,  and  placed  in  a  hospital,  where  she  soon  became  quiet. 
Ajgain  she  worried  the  lady  with  her  love,  felt  herself  very 
Unhappy,  and  planned  suicide. 

When  she  returned  home  she  was  greatly  depressed 
because  she  did  not  have  the  lady,  and  was  harsh  toward 
her  family.  A  delusive,  erotic  state  of  excitement  came 
on  about  the  end  of  May,  1884.  She  danced,  shouted, 
and  called  herself  a  man ;  demanded  her  former  lover,  and 
said  she  was  of  royal  blood.  She  escaped  from  the  house 
in  male  attire,  and  was  taken  to  the  asylum  in  a  state  of 
eroto-maniacal  excitement.    After  a  few  days  the  exalta- 


416 


PSYCHOPATHTA  SEXUALIS. 


tion  disappeared.  The  patient  became  quiet,  and  made  a 
desperate  attempt  at  suicide;  after  it  slie  was  in  great  an-^ 
guish  of  mind  with  tcedium  vitce.  The  perverse  sexual 
feeling  grew  less  and  less  noticeable  as  tuberculosis  pro- 
gressed. The  patient  died  of  phthisis  in  the  beginning  of 
1885. 

The  examination  of  the  brain  presented  nothing  unu- 
sual so  far  as  architecture  and  arrangement  of  convolu- 
tions were  concerned.  Weight  of  brain  1150  grammes. 
Skull  slightly  asymmetrical.  'No  anatomical  signs  of  de- 
generation. External  and  internal  genitals  without  anom- 
aly. 

Case  160.  (HomO'SexualUy  in  Transition  to  Vira- 
ginity,)  Mrs.  v.  T.,  wife  of  a  manufacturer;  age  twenty- 
six;  married  only  a  few  months;  was  brought  by  her 
husband  for  consultation  because  after  a  banquet  she  had 
fallen  upon  the  neck  of  a  lady  guest,  covered  her  profusely 
with  kisses  and  caressed  her  like  a  lover,  thus  causing  a 
scandal. 

Mrs.  T.  said  that  she  had  before  their  marriage  ex- 
plained to  her  husband  her  antipathic  sexual  feelings,  and 
had  told  him  that  she  esteemed  him  solely  for  his  mental 
qualities.  She  accepted  her  conjugal  duties  merely  as  a 
matter  of  unavoidable  necessity.  Her  only  condition  was 
that  she  should  be  incubus.  In  this  position  she  obtained 
a  sort  of  gratification,  for  she  imagined  his  body  to  be 
that  of  a  beloved  woman  in  succubus. 

Her  brother  was  neuropathic,  of  feminine  type,  suf- 
fered from  hysteria,  and  was  very  weak  in  his  sexual  needs; 
one  of  his  sisters,  it  was  said,  bought  her  conjugal  rights 
from  her  husband  for  a  sum  of  money,  giving  him  full 
liberty  to  find  sexual  satisfaction  elsewhere.  The  mother 
was  hyper-sexual,  and  known  as  a  Messalina.  She  made 
her  daughter  sleep  in  the  same  bed  with  her  till  she  reached 
the  age  of  fourteen.  At  fifteen  v.  T.  was  sent  to  a  girl's 
school.  Being  extraordinarily  bright,  she  learned  quickly 
and  soon  dominated  over  all  the  other  girls  in  her  form. 


COKGENITAI.  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  417 


At  the  age  of  seven  she  had  a  psychical  trauma  when 
a  friend  of  the  family  exhibited  himself  before  her. 

Menses  began  at  twelve,  were  regular  and  without 
nervous  concomitants.  At  that  age  she  began  already  to 
be  powerfully  drawn  to  other  girls.  Although  for  several 
years  she  never  associated  these  yearnings  with  sexual  feel- 
ings, she  yet  looked  upon  them  as  an  anomaly.  She  only 
felt  bashful  when  undressing  in  the  presence  of  persons 
of  her  own  sex.  At  twenty  the  sexual  instinct  awoke.  At 
once  she  turned  to  girls  for  gratification,  avoiding  men 
entirely.  She  had  sensual  love  affairs  with  girls  by  the 
scores.  When  she  returned  home  from  school,  having  no 
supervision  and  plenty  of  money,  she  found  it  easy  to  give 
her  passion  full  sway.  She  always  felt  like  a  man  towards 
woman.  Masturbatio  feminse  dilectse  was  the  common 
occurrence  in  her  orgies,  until  a  female  cousin  taught  her 
the  mysteries  of  Lesbian  love.  She  now  coupled  the  act 
with  cunnilingus.  She  always  played  the  active  role,  and 
never  allowed  others  to  satisfy  themselves  on  her  own  body. 
Homo-sexual  woman  she  disdained.  She  gave  preference 
to  unmarried  women  of  high  standing  endowed  with  men- 
tal gifts,  of  voluptuous,  Diana-like  figure,  but  of  modest 
and  retiring  disposition.  (Sensual  women  she  did  not  care 
for.)  Whenever  she  met  such  a  woman,  she  would  be- 
come erotically  so  excited  that  she  fell  upon^her  person 
like  a  hungry  wild  beast.  She  said  that  at  such  moments 
everything  appeared  to  her  in  a  reddish  gleam,  and  con- 
sciousness was  obliterated  for  the  time  being.  Her  nerves 
were  easily  unstrung,  and  she  could  not  master  her  feel- 
ings. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-three  she  became  acquainted  with 
a  young  woman  who,  to  all  appearances,  was  not  homo- 
sexual, but  very  hypersexual,  and  could  not  find  sexual 
satisfaction  on  account  of  impotence  in  her  husband.  The 
relations  with  this  woman  stimulated  T.'s  homo-sexuality 
to  a  very  high  pitch  and  increased  her  sexual  needs.  She 
furnished  an  apartment  away  from  home,  where  she  had 
regular  orgies  cum  digito  et  lingua,  sometimes  for  hours, 

27 


418 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


until  slie  herself  collapsed  in  a  state  of  exhaustion.  She 
had  a  love  affair  with  a  dressmaker's  model  with  whom 
she  had  herself  photographed  in  man's  attire,  visited,  in 
the  same  costume,  with  her  places  of  amusement  and  was 
finally  arrested  on  one  of  these  occasions.  She  escaped 
with  a  warning  and  gave  up  male  attire  out-of-doors. 

A  year  before  her  marriage  she  had  a  period  of  melan- 
cholia. At  that  time  she  meditated  suicide,  and  wrote  a 
farewell  letter  to  an  intimate  lady  friend,  a  sort  of  con- 
fession, from  which  a  few  passages  are  given : 

^^I  was  born  a  girl,  but  a  misdirected  education  forced 
my  fiery  imagination  early  into  the  wrong  direction.  At 
twelve  I  had  a  mania  to  pose  as  a  boy  and  court  the  atten- 
tion of  ladies.  I  recognised  this  abnormal  impulse  as  a 
mania,  but,  like  fate,  it  grew  with  the  years.  The  power 
to  rid  myself  of  it  was  lost.  It  was  my  hashish,  my  happi- 
ness, and  grew  into  an  overpowering  passion.  I  felt  like 
a  man,  forced  to  play  the  active  role.  My  exuberant  dis- 
position, fierce  sensuousness  and  deep-rooted  perverse  in- 
stinct gradually  forged  me  into  the  chains  of  Lesbian  love. 
I  took  a  certain  interest  in  man,  but  a  single  touch  by  a 
woman  made  my  whole  nervous  system  tremble.  I  have 
suffered  untold  tortures  in  the  bane  of  this  passion. 

^^The  reading  of  French  novels  and  lascivious  compan- 
ions taught  me  all  the  tricks  of  perverse  erotics,  and  the 
latent  impulse  became  a  conscious  perversity.  Nature  has 
made  a  mistake  in  the  choice  of  my  sexuality  and  I  must 
do  a  life-long  penance  for  it,  for  the  moral  power  to  suffer 
the  unavoidable  with  dignity  is  lost.  Irresistibly  I  have 
been  drawn  into  the  maelstrom  of  passion  and  shall  be 
swallowed  up  by  it  

^^I  languished  for  your  sweet  body.  I  was  jealous  of 
your  Victor  as  one  rival  is  of  the  other.  In  my  jealousy 
I  suffered  the  tortures  of  hell.  I  hated  that  man  unto 
death.  I  cursed  my  fate  that  made  me  a  woman.  I  was 
satisfied  to  play  a  stupid  comedy  before  you,  to  endow 
you  with  an  artificial  membrum.  It  only  increased  the 
heat  of  my  passion.    Courage  failed  me  to  tell  you  the 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION-  IN  WOMAN.  '419 

truth,  because  it  would  have  been  so  miserable  and  ludi- 
crous. Now  you  know  all.  You  will  not  despise  me, 
though ;  you  will  only  feel  what  I  have  suffered.  All  my 
joys  resemble  more  a  momentary  intoxication  than  the  real 
gold  of  happiness.  It  was  all  but  an  illusion.  I  have  fooled 
life  and  life  has  fooled  me.  We  are  quits.  I  say  good-bye. 
Think  sometimes  in  the  hour  of  happiness  of  your  poor, 
comical  fool  who  loved  you  truly  and  so  well    .    .  . 

The  vita  sexualis  of  this  woman  contained  also  traces 
of  masochism  and  sadism.  If  the  woman  whom  she  wor- 
shipped had  chided  or  even  struck  her,  it  would  have  been 
a  delight, — so  she  claimed — and  at  the  time  of  sexual  ex- 
citement she  felt  more  like  biting  than  kissing  the  object 
of  her  love. 

She  was  highly  cultured  and  intellectual,  felt  her  false 
position  painfully,  but  rather  on  account  of  her  family 
than  her  own  self.  She  looked  upon  it  all  as  fate,  over 
which  she  had  no  control.  She  bewailed  it  and  declared 
herself  ready  to  do  anything  to  rid  herself  of  this  perversion 
and  become  a  true  wife  and  good  mother,  for  she  would 
take  good  care  that  her  child  were  brought  up  in  the  right 
way.  She  would  do  everything  to  reconcile  her  husband 
and  perform  her  marital  duties,  but  she  could  not  bear 
his  moustache,  and  she  must  first  rid  herself  of  her  un- 
fortunate impulsive  passion. 

The  physical  and  psychical  secondary  sexual  charac- 
teristics were  partly  masculine,  partly  feminine.  Her 
love  for  sport,  smoking  and  drinking,  her  preference  for 
clothes  cut  in  the  fashion  of  men,  her  lack  of  skill  in  and 
liking  for  female  occupations,  her  love  for  the  study  of 
obtuse  and  philosophical  subjects,  her  gait  and  carriage, 
severe  features,  deep  voice,  robust  skeleton,  powerful  mus- 
cles and  absence  of  adipose  layers  bore  the  stamp  of  the 
masculine!  character.  The  pelvis  also  (small  hips),  dis- 
tantia  spinarum  22cm.,  cristarum  26,  trochanterum  31,  ap- 
proached the  masculine  figure.  Vagina,  uterus,  ovaries 
normal,  clitoris  rather  large.  Mammae  well  develope(f> 
hair  on  mons  veneris  female. 


420 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


I  sent  her  to  an  hydropathic  establishment,  where  an 
experienced  colleague  succeeded  in  a  few  months  to  free 
this  patient  by  means  of  hydro-  and  suggestive  treatment, 
from  her  homo-sexual  affliction.  She  became  a  decent, 
sexually  at  least,  neutral  person.  The  relatives  with  whom 
she  lived  afterwards  for  a  considerable  time  found  her  be- 
haviour absolutely  correct. 

Case  161.  Viraginity.  Miss  N".,  twenty-five  years 
of  age.  Parents  supposed  to  be  healthy.  Her  brothers 
and  sisters  were  all  neuropathic.  Three  of  her  sisters  were 
married.  She  was  very  talented,  especially  in  the  fine  arts. 
Even  in  her  earliest  childhood  she  preferred  playing  at 
soldiers  and  other  boys'  games;  she  was  bold  and  tom- 
boyish,  and  tried  even  to  excel  her  little  companions  of 
the  other  sex.  She  never  had  a  liking  for  dolls,  needle- 
work or  domestic  duties.  Puberty  at  fifteen.  She  soon 
fell  in  love  with  young  ladies,  but  only  in  a  platonic  fash- 
ion, for  she  was  a  ^^respectable  girl."  For  several  years  since 
then  her  libido  was  very  strong.  She  could  hardly  restrain 
herself.  Her  dreams  were  of  a  lascivious  character,  only 
about  females,  with  herself  in  the  role  of  man.  She  was 
desperately  in  love  with  a  woman  of  forty,  whom  she  tor- 
mented with  her  jealous  conduct. 

Miss  was  indifferent  to  men.  She  could  safely  live 
with  a  man  in  the  same  room,  whilst  towards  persons  of 
her  own  sex  she  was  most  bashful. 

She  was  quite  conscious  of  her  pathological  condition. 

Masculine  features,  deep  voice,  manly  gait,  without 
beard,  small  mammae ;  cropped  her  hair  short,  and  made  the 
impression  of  a  man  in  woman's  clothes. 

Case  162.  Viraginity.  C.  R.,  maid-servant,  aged 
twenty-six,  suffered  from  the  time  of  her  development 
with  original  paranoia  and  hysteria.  As  a  result  of  her 
delusions,  her  life  had  been  somewhat  romantic,  and  in 
1884,  in  Switzerland,  where  she  had  gone  on  account  of 
delusions  of  persecution,  she  came  under  the  observation 


ODITGIDOTTAL  SEXUAL  INVEESION  11^  WOMAN.  421 


of  the  authorities.  On  this  occasion  it  was  ascertained  that 
R.  was  affected  with  sexual  inversion. 

Concerning  her  parents  and  relatives,  there  was  no  in- 
formation at  hand.  R.  asserted  that,  with  the  exception 
of  an  inflammation  of  the  lungs  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  she 
had  never  been  severely  ill. 

First  menstruation  at  fifteen,  without  any  difficulties ; 
thereafter  it  was  very  often  irregular  and  abnormally  ex- 
cessive. The  patient  declared  that  she  never  had  had 
inclinations  toward  the  opposite  sex,  and  had  never  allowed 
the  approach  of  a  man.  She  never  could  understand  how 
her  friends  could  describe  the  beauty  and  amiability  of 
men.  But  it  was  charming  and  inspiring  for  her  to  im- 
print a  kiss  on  the  lips  of  a  beloved  female  friend.  She 
had  a  love  for  girls  that  was  incomprehensible  to  her. 
She  had  passionately  loved  and  kissed  some  of  her  female 
friends,  and  she  would  have  given  up  her  life  for  them. 
Her  greatest  delight  would  have  been  to  have  constantly 
lived  with  such  a  friend  and  absolutely  possessed  her. 

In  this  she  felt  toward  the  beloved  girl  like  a  man. 
Even  as  a  little  child  she  had  an  inclination  only  for  the 
play  of  boys,  and  she  loved  to  hear  shooting  and  military 
music,  was  always  much  excited  by  them,  and  would 
gladly  have  gone  as  a  soldier.  The  chase  and  war  have 
been  her  ideals.  In  the  theatre  only  feminine  performers 
interested  her.  She  knew  very  well  that  the  whole  of  this 
inclination  was  unwomanly,  but  she  could  not  help  it.  It 
had  always  been  a  great  pleasure  for  her  to  go  about  in 
male  clothing,  and  in  the  same  way  she  had  always  pre- 
ferred masculine  work,  and  had  shown  unusual  skill  in  it ; 
while  with  reference  to  feminine  occupations,  especially 
handiwork,  she  had  to  say  the  contrary.  The  patient  had 
also  a  weakness  for  smoking  and  spirits.  On  account  of 
persecutory  delusions,  in  order  to  rid  herself  of  her  per- 
secutions, the  patient  had  often  gone  about  in  male  attire 
and  played  the  part  of  a  man.  She  did  this  with  such 
(natural)  skill  that,  as  a  rule,  she  was  able  to  deceive  peo- 
ple concerning  her  sex. 


422 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


It  is  authoritatively  established  that  in  1884  for  a 
long  time  the  patient  went  about  in  male  attire,  now  in 
the  garments  of  a  civilian,  now  in  the  uniform  of  a  lieu- 
tenant ;  and  in  August  of  the  same  year,  dressed  as  a  male 
servant,  she  fled  to  Switzerland  through  delusions  of  per- 
secution. There  she  found  service  in  a  merchant's  family 
and  fell  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  the  house,  "the  beau- 
tiful Anna,''  who,  on  her  side,  not  recognising  the  sex  of 
E.,  fell  in  love  with  the  handsome  young  man. 

Concerning  this  episode  the  patient  made  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  statement:  ^^I  was  madly  in  love  with 
Anna.  I  don't  know  how  it  came  about,  and  I  cannot  put 
myself  right  concerning  this  impulse.  In  this  fatal  love 
lies  the  reason  why  I  played  the  role  of  a  man  so  long. 
I  have  never  yet  felt  any  love  for  a  man,  and  I  believe 
that  my  love  is  for  the  female  and  not  the  male  sex.  I 
can  in  nowise  understand  my  condition." 

From  Switzerland  E.  wrote  letters  home  to  her  friend 
Amelia,  which  were  produced  at  the  examination.  They 
are  letters  showing  passionate  love,  which  goes  beyond 
the  bounds  of  friendship.  She  apostrophises  her  friend: 
^^My  flower,  sun  of  my  heart,  longing  of  my  soul".  She 
was  her  greatest  happiness  on  earth;  her  heart  was  hers. 
And  in  her  letters  to  her  friend's  parents  she  wrote :  ^^You, 
too,  should  watch  my  ^flower,'  for  if  she  should  die  I  also 
would  be  unable  to  endure  life". 

For  the  purpose  of  investigating  her  mental  condition, 
E.  remained  fqr  some  time  in  an  asylum.  On  one  occa- 
sion, when  Anna  was  allowed  to  pay  R.  a  visit,  there  was 
no  end  of  passionate  embraces  and  kisses.  The  visitor 
acknowledged  freely  that  they  had  before  secretly  em- 
braced and  kissed  in  the  same  way. 

R.  was  a  tall,  slim,  stately  person,  of  feminine  form  in 
all  respects,  but  masculine  features.  Cranium  regular; 
no  anatomical  signs  of  degeneration.  Genitals  normal  and 
indicative  of  virginity.  R.  made  the  impression  of  a  mor- 
ally pure  and  modest  person.  All  the  circumstances  in- 
dicated that  she  had  only  indulged  in  platonic  love.  Eye 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  423 

and  appearance  were  indicative  of  a  neurasthenic  person. 
Severe  hysteria,  occasional  cataleptoid  attacks,  with  vision- 
ary and  delirious  states.  The  patient  was  very  easily 
brought  into  a  state  of  somnambulism  by  hypnotic  influ- 
ence, and  in  this  condition  was  susceptible  to  all  possible 
suggestions.  (Personal  case.  ''Friedreich's  Blatter/' 
1881,  Heft  i.) 

Case  163.  Viraginity.  Miss  O.,  twenty-three  years 
of  age.  Mother  constitutionally  and  heavily  hysteropathic. 
Mother's  father  insane.    Father's  family  untainted. 

Father  died  early  of  pneumonia.  Patient  was  brought 
to  me  by  her  trustee  because  she  ran  away  recently  from 
home  in  male  attire  in  order  to  rove  through  the  world 
and  become  an  ^^artiste".    Very  gifted  in  music. 

For  several  years  she  attracted  much  attention  by  her 
bold,  mannish  behaviour,  and  by  wearing  her  hair  and 
attire  in  male  fashion.  Since  she  was  thirteen  she  was 
demonstrative  in  her  love  for  girl  friends,  whom  she  often 
wearied  with  fervent  embraces. 

She  did  not  seek  to  conceal  her  passionate  fondness 
for  persons  of  her  own  sex.  Claimed  that  since  her  thir- 
teenth year  she  was  fully  conscious  of  the  fact  that  she 
could  love  only  women.  She  felt  as  a  man  towards  woman ; 
though  she  looked  like  a  man,  and  would  much  rather  wear 
men's  clothes. 

A  short  time  ago  she  seriously  asked  a  relative  who 
was  in  the  police  department  to  obtain  permission  for  her 
to  go  about  in  male  attire. 

Her  erotic  dreams  dealt  only  with  intimate  intercourse 
with  female  friends.  She  never  took  the  slightest  interest 
in  men,  and  never  thought  of  marriage. 

She  felt  quite  happy  in  her  abnormal  sexual  condi- 
tion, and  did  not  recognise  it  as  pathological.  She  could 
not  comprehend  that  her  sexual  instinct  differed  from  that 
of  other  women. 

The  circumference  of  the  head  was  51  cm.  Frame 
quite  feminine;  but  the  feet  were  exceptionally  large  and 


45J4 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


more  of  masculine  type.  Carriage,  attitude  and  gait  quite 
masculine.  Female  voice.  Monthly  periods  regular  since 
her  thirteenth  year. 

Case  164.  (Viraginity.)  On  the  5th  of  October, 
1898,  the  police  brought  to  my  clinic  W.,  age  thirty-six, 
a  charwoman,  for  examination  as  to  her  sanity.  She  had 
engaged  herself  to  a  young  girl  under  the  pretext  that  she 
was  a  man  and  belonged  to  an  aristocratic  family.  Exam- 
ination proved  this  to  be  a  classical  case  of  original  para- 
noia. When  she  was  five  she  imagined  that  the  couple 
with  whom  she  lived  were  only  her  foster  parents,  at 
eighteen  that  she  came  from  a  distinguished  family,  at 
twenty-nine  that  her  father  was  a  king,  her  mother  a 
countess.  Circumference  of  cranium  53  cm.,  parietal 
bones  slightly  bulging.  Ears  abnormally  small,  of  uneven 
size,  misformed,  the  right  lobe  joined  groin-like  to  the 
cheek,  the  left  properly  developed.  Palate  very  narrow 
and  steep.  Teeth  carious,  many  missing  (Rachitis).  Stat- 
ure medium  size,  willowy.  Chest  strongly  arched.  Waist 
and  region  of  hips  smaller  than  in  the  normal.  A  promi- 
nent gynecologist  examined  the  pelvic  regions  and  found 
a  small  pelvis,  narrow  at  the  inferior  outlet,  in  form  almost 
typically  masculine.  Ilium  less  inclined  than  in  the  nor- 
mal. 

The  hard  lines  and  severe  features  of  the  face  gave  it 
a  rather  masculine  appearance.  Her  hair  was  cut  short. 
Gait  and  bearing  masculine.  Skin  very  rough,  adipose 
layers  sparse,  mammae  stunted.  Genitals  normal,  hymen 
intact.  She  was  loath  to  speak  of  her  vita  sexualis,  but 
wanted  an  explanation  why  she  had  no  desire  for  men  and 
only  for  persons  of  her  own  sex.  "Her  genitals  could  not 
be  right."  Menses  from  the  age  of  sixteen,  but  the  flow 
of  blood  came  but  seldom,  and  even  then  very  sparsely. 
With  the  advent  of  puberty  inclinations  to  persons  of  her 
own  sex.  She  never  was  sensual.  Her  sexual  ideas  were 
always  about  the  female  sex  in  general,  never  concentrated 
on  an  individual.   In  this  wise  she  had  lived  with  another 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN*  425 

girl  of  her  own  age;  but  their  relations  had  been  those  of 
sisters;  sexual  acts  had  never  taken  place  between  them. 
She  felt  towards  other  women  as  a  man  does;  she  loathed 
the  idea  of  sexual  intercourse  with  a  man.  When  a  child 
she  preferred  playing  with  boys.  When  playing  at  "rob- 
bers'^ she  would  be  the  captain  and  chose  a  girl  for  her 
wife,  but  without  any  sexual  moment.  At  sixteen  she 
thought  she  possessed  the  qualities  of  a  man.  She  was 
then  in  a  convent  and  there  learned  from  a  woman  mas- 
turbation. The  thought  of  this  woman  was  always  pros- 
ent  when  she  masturbated,  and  acted  as  a  sexual  stimulus. 
Later  on  she  thought  of  other  females  during  the  act,  but 
without  decided  individuality. 

At  thirty-three  she  became  neurasthenic,  gave  up  the 
practice  successfully.  She  bewailed  the  fact  that  she  was 
not  born  a  man,  as  she  hated  feminine  things  and  dress 
generally.  Would  much*  rather  have  been  a  soldier. 
Sweetmeats  she  disdained,  preferring  a  cigar.  She  was  a 
bright,  intelligent  person.  Larynx  and  voice  feminine. 
She  became  convinced  that  she  could  not  marry  a  woman 
and  upon  promise  to  conquer  her  perverse  sexual  inclina- 
tions she  was  dismissed. 

Case  165.  Miss  X.,  aged  thirty-eight,  consulted  me 
late  in  the  fall  of  1881,  on  account  of  severe  spinal  irri- 
tation and  obstinate  sleeplessness,  in  combating  which  she 
had  become  addicted  to  morphine  and  chloral.  Her  mother 
and  sister  were  nervous  sufferers,  but  the  rest  of  the  fam- 
ily were  healthy.  The  trouble  dated  from  a  fall  on  her 
back  in  1872,  at  which  time  the  patient  was  terribly 
frightened,  though,  when  a  girl,  she  had  been  subject  to 
muscular  cramps  and  hysterical  symptoms.  Following 
this  shock,  a  neurasthenic  and  hysterical  neurosis  devel- 
oped, with  predominating  spinal  irritation  and  sleepless- 
ness. Episodically,  hysterical  paraplegia,  lasting  as  long 
as  eight  months,  and  hysterical  hallucinatory  delirium, 
with  convulsive  attacks,  occurred.  In  the  course  of  this, 
symptoms  of  morphinism  were  added.    A  stay  of  some 


426 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


months  in  tlie  hospital  relieved  the  latter,  and  considerably 
improved  the  neurasthenic  neurosis,  in  the  treatment  of 
which  general  faradisation  exerted  a  remarkably  favour- 
able influence. 

Even  at  the  first  meeting,  the  patient  produced  a  re- 
markable impression  by  reason  of  her  attire,  features  and 
conduct.  She  wore  a  gentleman's  hat,  her  hair  closely  cut, 
eye-glasses,  a  gentleman's  cravat,  a  coat-like  outer  gar- 
ment of  masculine  cut  that  reached  well  down  over  her 
gown,  and  boots  with  high  heels.  She  had  coarse,  some- 
Avhat  masculine  features;  a  harsh,  deep  voice;  and  made 
rather  the  impression  of  a  man  in  female  attire  than  that 
of  a  lady,  if  one  but  overlooked  the  bosom  and  the  decid- 
edly feminine  form  of  the  pelvis.  During  the  long  time 
that  she  was  observed,  there  were  never  signs  of  erotism. 
"When  questioned  concerning  her  attire,  she  would  only 
respond  that  the  style  she  chose  suited  her  better.  Gradu- 
ally it  was  ascertained  from  .her  that,  even  when  she  was 
a  small  girl,  she  had  had  a  preference  for  horses  and 
masculine  pursuits,  and  never  any  interest  in  feminine 
occupations.  Later  she  developed  a  particular  pleasure  in 
reading,  and  prepared  herself  to  be  a  teacher.  Dancing 
had  never  pleased  her;  it  had  always  seemed  silly  to  her. 
The  toilet  had  never  interested  her.  Her  greatest  pleasure 
had  always  been  in  the  circus.  Until  her  sickness,  in 
1872,  she  had  neither  had  inclination  for  persons  of  the 
opposite  nor  of  those  of  her  own  sex.  From  that  time 
she  had,  what  was  remarkable  to  herself,  a  peculiar 
friendship  for  females,  particularly  for  young  ladies; 
and  she  had  a  desire,  and  satisfied  it,  to  wear  hats  and 
coats  of  masculine  style.  Since  1869,  she  had  worn  her 
hair  short,  and  parted  it  on  the  side,  as  men  do.  She  as- 
serted that  she  was  never  sexually  excited  in  the  company 
of  men,  but  that  her  friendship  and  self-sacrifice  for  sym- 
pathetic ladies  was  unbounded;  while  from  that  time  she 
also  experienced  repugnance  for  gentlemen  and  their  so- 
ciety. 

Her  relatives  reported  that,  before  1872,  the  patient 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  427 

had  a  proposal  of  marriage,  which  she  refused;  and  that 
when  she  returned  from  a  sojourn  at  a  watering  place,  in 
1874,  she  was  sexually  changed,  and  occasionally  showed 
that  she  did  not  regard  herself  as  a  female. 

Since  that  time  she  would  associate  only  with  ladies, 
had  a  kind  of  love-relation  with  one  or  another,  and  made 
remarks  which  indicated  that  she  looked  upon  herself  as 
a  man.  This  predilection  for  women  was  decidedly  more 
than  mere  friendship,  since  it  expressed  itself  in  tears, 
jealousy,  etc. 

When,  in  1874,  she  was  stopping  at  a  watering  place, 
a  young  lady,  who  took  her  for  a  man  in  disguise,  fell  in 
love  with  her.  When  this  lady  married,  later,  the  patient 
was  for  a  long  time  depressed,  and  spoke  of  unfaithful- 
ness. Moreover,  since  her  illness,  her  relatives  were  struck 
by  her  desire  for  masculine  attire,  her  masculine  conduct, 
and  disinclination  for  feminine  pursuits ;  while,  previously, 
at  least  sexually,  she  had  presented  nothing  unusual. 

Further  investigation  showed  that  the  patient  had  a 
love-relation,  which  was  not  purely  platonic,  with  the  lady 
described  in  case  159;  and  that  she  wrote  her  affectionate 
letters  like  those  of  a  lover  to  his  beloved.  In  1887  I  again 
saw  the  patient  in  a  sanatorium,  where  she  had  been  placed 
on  account  of  hystero-epileptic  attacks,  spinal  irritation, 
and  morphinism.  The  inverted  sexual  feeling  existed  un- 
changed, and  only  by  the  most  careful  watching  was  the 
patient  kept  from  improper  advances  toward  her  fellow- 
patients. 

Her  condition  remained  quite  unchanged  until  1889. 
Then  the  patient  began  to  fail,  and  she  died  of  ^^exhaus- 
tion,'' in  August,  1889.  The  autopsy  showed,  in  the  vege- 
tative organs,  amyloid  degeneration  of  the  kidneys,  fibroma 
of  the  uterus,  and  cyst  of  the  left  ovary.  The  frontal  bone 
was  much  thickened,  uneven  on  the  inner  surface,  with 
numerous  exostoses;  dura  adherent  to  vault  of  cranium. 
Long  diameter  of  skull,  175  millimetres;  lateral  diameter, 
148  millimetres;  weight  of  the  oedematous,  but  no  atro- 
phied brain,  1175  grammes.    The  meninges  delicate,  easily 


428 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTTAILIS. 


removed.  Cortex  pale.  Convolutions  broad,  not  numer- 
ous, regularly  arranged.  ITothing  abnormal  in  cerebellum 
and  great  ganglia. 

Case  166.  Gynandry}  History :  On  4tli  November, 
1889,  the  father-in-law  of  a  certain  Countess  V.,  com- 
plained that  the  latter  had  swindled  him  out  of  800f., 
under  the  pretence  of  requiring  a  bond  as  secretary  of 
a  stock  company.  It  was  ascertained  that  Sandor  had 
entered  into  matrimonial  contracts  and  escaped  from  the 
nuptials  in  the  spring  of  1889 ;  and,  more  than  this,  that 
this  ostensible  Count  Sandor  was  no  man  at  all,  but  a 
woman  in  male  attire — Sarolta  (Charlotte),  Countess  V. 

S.  was  arrested,  and,  on  account  of  deception  and 
forgery  of  public  documents,  brought  to  examination.  At 
the  first  hearing  S.  confessed  that  she  was  born  on  the 
6th  Sept.,  1866;  that  she  was  a  female.  Catholic,  single, 
and  worked  as  an  authoress  under  the  name  of  Count 
Sandor  V. 

From  the  autobiography  of  this  man-woman  I  have 
gleaned  the  following  remarkable  facts  that  have  been 
independently  confirmed : — 

S.  came  of  an  ancient,  noble  and  highly  respected 
family  of  Hungary,  in  which  there  had  been  eccentricity 
and  family  peculiarities.  A  sister  of  the  maternal  grand- 
mother was  hysterical,  a  somnambulist,  and  lay  seventeen 
years  in  bed,  on  account  of  fancied  paralysis.  A  second 
great-aunt  spent  seven  years  in  bed,  on  account  of  a  fancied 
fatal  illness,  and  at  the  same  time  gave  balls.  A  third  had 
the  whim  that  a  certain  table  in  her  salon  was  bewitched. 
When  anything  was  laid  on  this  table,  she  would  become 
greatly  excited  and  cry,  ^^Bewitched!  bewitched!'^  and 
run  with  the  object  into  a  room  which  she  called  the  ^^Black 
Chamber,'^  and  the  key  of  which  she  never  let  out  of  her 
hands.  After  the  death  of  this  lady,  there  were  found  in 
this  chamber  a  number  of  shawls,  ornaments,  bank-notes, 

^Cf.  the  expert  medical  opinion  of  this  case,  by  Dr.  Birnbacher, 
in  ''Friedreich's  Blatter  f.  ger.  Med.,"  1891,  Heft  1. 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  429 

etc.  A  fourth  great-aunt  during  two  years  did  not  leave 
her  room,  and  neither  washed  herself  nor  combed  her  hair ; 
then  she  again  made  her  appearance.  All  these  ladies 
were,  nevertheless,  intellectual,  finely  educated  and 
amiable. 

S.'s  mother  was  nervous,  and  could  not  bear  the  light 
of  the  moon. 

She  inherited  many  of  the  peculiarities  of  her  father's 
family.  One  line  of  the  family  gave  itself  up  almost 
entirely  to  spiritualism.  Two  blood  relations  on  the 
father's  side  shot  themselves.  The  majority  of  her  male 
relatives  were  unusually  talented;  the  females  were  de- 
cidedly narrow-minded  and  domesticated.  S.'s  father  had 
a  high  position,  which,  however,  on  account  of  his  eccen- 
tricity and  extravagance  (he  wasted  over  a  million  and  a 
half),  he  lost. 

Among  many  foolish  things  that  her  father  encouraged 
in  her  was  the  fact  that  he  brought  her  up  as  a  boy, 
called  her  Sandor,  allowed  her  to  ride,  drive  and  hunt, 
admiring  her  muscular  energy. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  foolish  father  allowed  his 
second  son  to  go  about  in  female  attire,  and  had  him 
brought  up  as  a  girl.  This  farce  ceased  when  the  son 
was  sent  to  a  higher  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen. 

Sarolta-Sandor  remained  under  her  father's  influence 
till  her  twelfth  year,  and  then  came  under  the  care  of  her 
eccentric  maternal  grandmother  in  Dresden,  by  whom, 
when  the  masculine  play  became  too  obvious,  she  was 
placed  in  an  institute  and  made  to  wear  female  attire. 

At  thirteen  she  had  a  love-relation  with  an  English 
girl,  to  whom  she  represented  herself  as  a  boy,  and  ran 
away  with  her. 

Sarolta  returned  to  her  mother,  who,  however,  could 
do  nothing,  and  was  compelled  to  allow  her  daughter  to 
again  become  Sandor,  wear  male  clothes,  and,  at  least 
once  a  year,  to  fall  in  love  with  persons  of  her  own  sex. 

At  the  same  time  S.  received  a  careful  education  and 
made  long  journeys  with  her  father,  of  course  always  as  a 


430 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


young  gentleman.  She  early  became  independent  and 
visited  cafes^  even  those  of  doubtful  character,  and,  indeed, 
boasted  one  day  that  in  a  brothel  she  had  had  a  girl  sitting 
on  each  knee.  S.  was  often  intoxicated,  had  a  passion  for 
masculine  sports  and  was  a  very  skilful  fencer. 

She  felt  herself  drawn  particularly  toward  actresses, 
or  others  of  similar  position,  and,  if  possible,  toward  those 
who  were  not  very  young.  She  asserted  that  she  never 
had  any  inclination  for  a  young  man,  and  that  she  had 
felt,  from  year  to  year,  an  increasing  dislike  for  young 
men. 

^^I  preferred  to  go  into  the  society  of  ladies  with  ugly, 
ill-favoured  men,  so  that  none  of  them  could  put  me  in 
the  shade.  If  I  noticed  that  any  of  the  men  awakened 
the  sympathies  of  the  ladies,  I  felt  jealous.  I  preferred 
ladies  who  were  bright  and  pretty;  I  could  not  endure 
them  if  they  were  fat  or  much  inclined  toward  men.  It 
delighted  me  if  the  passion  of  a  lady  was  disclosed  under 
a  poetic  veil.  All  immodesty  in  a  woman  was  disgusting 
to  me.  I  had  an  indescribable  aversion  for  female  attire, — 
indeed,  for  everything  feminine,  but  only  in  as  far  as  it 
concerned  me;  for,  on  the  other  hand,  I  was  all  enthu- 
siasm for  the  beautiful  sex." 

During  the  last  ten  years  S.  had  lived  almost  con- 
stantly away  from  her  relatives,  in  the  guise  of  a  man. 
She  had  had  many  liaisons  with  ladies,  travelled  much, 
spent  much,  and  made  debts. 

At  the  same  time  she  carried  on  literary  work,  and  was 
a  valued  collaborator  on  two  noted  journals  of  the  capital. 

Her  passion  for  ladies  was  very  changeable;  con- 
stancy in  love  was  entirely  wanting. 

Only  once  did  such  a  liaison  last  three  years.  It  was 
years  before  that  S.,  at  Castle  G.,  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Emma  E.,  who  was  ten  years  older  that  herself.  She 
fell  in  love  with  her,  made  a  marriage  contract  with  her, 
and  they  lived  together  as  man  and  wife  for  three  years 
at  the  capital. 

A  new  love^  which  proved  fatal  to  S.,  caused  her  to 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  431 

sever  her  matrimonial  relations  with  E.  The  latter  would 
not  have  it  so.  Only  with  the  greatest  sacrifice  was  S. 
able  to  purchase  her  freedom  from  E.,  who  still  looked 
npon  herself  as  a  divorced  wife,  and  regarded  herself  as 
the  Countess  V. !  That  S.  also  had  the  power  to  excite 
passion  in  other  women  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  when 
she  (before  her  marriage  with  E.)  had  grown  tired  of  a 
Miss  D.,  after  having  spent  thousands  of  guldens  on  her, 
she  was  threatened  with  shooting  by  D.  if  she  should  be- 
come untrue. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1887,  while  at  a  watering- 
place,  that  S.  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  distinguished 
official's  family.  Immediately  she  fell  in  love  with  the 
daughter,  Marie,  and  her  love  was  returned. 

Her  mother  and  cousin  tried  in  vain  to  break  up 
this  affair.  During  the  winter  the  lovers  corresponded 
zealously.  In  April,  1888,  Count  S.  paid  her  a  visit,  and 
in  May,  1889,  attained  her  wish;  in  that  Marie — who, 
in  the  meantime,  had  given  up  a  position  as  teacher — 
became  her  bride  in  the  presence  of  a  friend  of  her  lover, 
the  ceremony  being  performed  in  an  arbour,  by  a  pseudo- 
priest,  in  Hungary.  S.,  with  her  friend,  forged  the  mar- 
riage certificate.  The  pair  lived  happily,  and,  without 
the  interference  of  the  father-in-law,  this  false  marriage, 
probably,  would  have  lasted  much  longer.  It  is  remark- 
able that,  during  the  comparatively  long  existence  of  the 
relation,  S.  was  able  to  deceive  completely  the  family  of 
her  bride  with  regard  to  her  true  sex. 

S.  was  a  passionate  smoker,  and  in  all  respects  her 
tastes  and  passions  were  masculine.  Her  letters  and 
even  legal  documents  reached  her  under  the  address  of 
^^Count  S."  She  often  spoke  of  having  to  drill.  From 
remarks  of  the  father-in-law  it  seems  that  S.  (and  she 
afterward  confessed  it)  knew  how  to  imitate  a  scrotum 
with  handkerchiefs  or  gloves  stuffed  in  the  trousers.  The 
father-in-law  also,  on  one  occasion,  noticed  something 
like  an  erected  member  on  his  future  son-in-law  (probably 
a  priapus).    She  also  occasionally  remarked  that  she  was 


432 


PSYCHOPATPIIA  SEXUALIS. 


obliged  to  wear  a  suspensory  bandage  while  riding.  The 
fact  is,  S.  wore  a  bandage  around  the  body  possibly  as  a 
means  of  retaining  a  priapus. 

Though  S.  often  had  herself  shaved  pro  forma,  the 
servants  in  the  hotel  where  she  lived  were  convinced  that 
she  was  a  woman,  because  the  chambermaids  found  traces 
of  menstrual  blood  on  her  linen  (which  S.  explained,  how- 
ever, as  hsemorrhoidal)  ;  and,  on  the  occasion  of  a  bath 
which  S.  was  accustomed  to  take,  they  claimed  to  have 
convinced  themselves  of  her  real  sex  by  looking  through 
the  key-hole. 

The  family  of  Marie  make  it  seem  probable  that  she 
for  a  long  time  was  deceived  with  regard  to  the  true 
sex  of  her  false  bridegroom.  The  following  passage  in 
a  letter  from  Marie  to  S.,  26th  August,  1889,  speaks  in 
favour  of  the  incredible  simplicity  and  innocence  of  this 
unfortunate  girl:  ^^I  don't  like  children  any  more,  but 
if  I  had  a  little  Bezerl  or  Patscherl  by  my  Sandi — ah, 
what  happiness,  Sandi  mine!'' 

A  large  number  of  manuscripts  allow  conclusions  to 
be  drawn  concerning  S.'s  mental  individuality.  The 
chirography  possesses  the  character  of  firmness  and 
certainty.  The  characters  are  genuinely  masculine.  The 
same  peculiarities  repeat  themselves  everywhere  in  their 
contents — ^wild,  unbridled  passion;  hatred  and  resistance 
to  all  that  opposes  the  heart  thirsting  for  love;  poetical 
love,  which  is  not  marred  by  one  ignoble  blot,  enthusiasm 
for  the  beautiful  and  noble;  appreciation  of  science  and 
the  arts. 

Her  writings  betray  a  wonderfully  wide  range  of 
reading  in  classics  of  all  languages,  in  citations  from 
poets  and  prose  writers  of  all  lands.  The  evidence  of 
those  qualified  to  judge  literary  work  shows  that  S.'s 
poetical  and  literary  ability  was  by  no  means  small.  The 
letters  and  writings  concerning  the  relation  with  Marie 
are  psychologically  worthy  of  notice. 

S.  speaks  of  the  happiness  there  was  for  her  when 
by  M.'s  side,  and  expresses  boundless  longing  to  see  her 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION. IN  WOMAN.  433 

beloved,  if  only  for  a  moment.  After  such  a  happiness 
she  could  have  but  one  wish — ^to  exchange  her  cell  for 
the  grave.  The  bitterest  thing  was  the  knowledge  that 
now  Marie,  too,  hated  her.  Hot  tears,  enough  to  drown 
herself  in,  she  had  shed  over  her  lost  happiness.  Whole 
quires  of  paper  are  given  up  to  the  apotheosis  of  this 
love,  and  reminiscences  of  the  time  of  the  first  love  and 
acquaintance. 

S.  complained  of  her  heart,  that  would  allow  no  reason 
to  direct  it;  she  expressed  emotions  which  were  such 
as  only  could  be  felt — not  simulated.  Then,  again,  there 
were  outbreaks  of  most  silly  passion,  with  the  declara- 
tion that  she  could  not  live  without  Marie.  ''Thj  dear, 
sweet  voice;  the  voice  whose  tone  perchance  would  raise 
me  from  the  dead;  that  has  been  for  me  like  the  warm 
breath  of  Paradise!  Thy  presence  alone  were  enough 
to  alleviate  my  mental  and  moral  anguish.  It  was  a 
magnetic  stream;  it  was  a  peculiar  power  your  being 
exercised  over  mine,  which  I  cannot  quite  define ;  and, 
therefore,  I  cling  to  that  ever-true  definition:  I  love  you 
because  I  love  you.  In  the  night  of  sorrow  I  had  but 
one  star — the  star  of  Marie's  love.  That  star  has  lost 
its  light;  now  there  remains  but  its  shimmer — the  sweet, 
sad  memory  which  even  lights  with  its  soft  ray  the 
deepening  night  of  death — a  ray  of  hope.'' 

This  writing  ends  with  the  apostrophe :  "Gentlemen, 
you  learned  in  the  law,  psychologists  and  pathologists, 
do  me  justice!  Love  led  me  to  take  the  step  I  took;  all 
my  deeds  were  conditioned  by  it.  God  put  it  in  my 
heart. 

"If  he  created  me  so,  and  not  otherwise,  am  I  then 
guilty;  or  is  it  the  eternal,  incomprehensible  way  of 
fate?  I  relied  on  God,  that  one  day  my  emancipation 
would  come;  for  my  thought  was  only  love  itself,  which 
is  the  foundation,  the  guiding  principle,  of  His  teaching 
and  His  kingdom. 

"O  God,  Thou  All-pitying,  Almighty  One!  Thou 
seest  my  distress;  Thou  knowest  how  I  suffer.  Incline 

28 


13? 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Thyself  to  me;  extend  Thy  helping  hand  to  me,  deserted 
by  all  the  world.  Only  God  is  just.  How  beautifully 
does  Victor  Hugo  describe  this  in  his  ^Legendes  du 
Siecle' !  How  sad  do  Mendelssohn's  words  sound  to 
me :    ^Nightly  in  dreams  I  see  thee' 

Though  S.  knew  that  none  of  her  writings  reached 
her  lover,  she  did  not  grow  tired  writing  of  her  pain 
and  delight  in  love,  in  page  after  page  of  deification  of 
Marie.  And  to  induce  one  more  pure  flood  of  tears,  on 
one  still,  clear  summer  evening,  when  the  lake  was  aglow 
with  the  setting  sun  like  molten  gold,  and  the  bells  of 
St.  Anna  and  Maria-Worth,  blending  in  harmonious  mel- 
ancholy, gave  tidings  of  rest  and  peace,  she  wrote:  ^Tor 
that  poor  soul,  for  this  poor  heart  that  beats  for  thee  till 
the  last  breath". 

Personal  examination:  The  first  meeting  which  the 
experts  had  with  S.  was  in  a  measure,  a  time  of  embarrass- 
ment to  both  sides;  for  them,  because  perhaps  S.'s  some- 
what dazzling  and  forced  masculine  carriage  impressed 
them;  for  her,  because  she  thought  she  was  to  be  marked 
with  the  stigma  of  moral  insanity.  She  had  a  pleasant 
and  intelligent  face,  which,  in  spite  of  a  certain  delicacy 
of  features  and  diminutiveness  of  all  its  parts,  gave  a 
decidedly  masculine  impression,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
absence  of  a  moustache.  It  was  even  difficult  for  the 
experts  to  realise  that  they  were  concerned  with  a  woman, 
despite  the  fact  of  female  attire  and  constant  association ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  intercourse  with  the  man  Sandor 
was  much  more  free,  natural,  and  apparently  correct. 
The  accused  also  felt  this.  She  immediately  became  more 
open,  more  communicative,  more  free,  as  soon  as  she  was 
treated  like  a  man. 

In  spite  of  her  inclination  for  the  female  sex,  which 
had  been  present  from  her  earliest  years,  she  asserted  that 
in  her  thirteenth  year  she  first  felt  a  trace  of  sexual  feeling, 
which  expressed  itself  in  kisses,  embraces,  and  caresses, 
with  sexual  pleasure,  and  this  on  the  occasion  of  her 
elopement  with  the  red-haired  English  girl  from  the  Dres- 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  IlSrVERSION.  IN  WOMAN.  435 

den  institute.  At  that  time  feminine  forms  exclusively 
appeared  to  her  in  dream-pictures,  and  ever  since,  in 
sensual  dreams,  she  felt  herself  in  the  situation  of  a  man, 
and  occasionally,  also,  at  such  times,  experienced  ejacu-- 
lation. 

She  knew  nothing  of  solitary  or  mutual  onanism, 
Such  a  thing  seemed  very  disgusting  to  her,  and  not 
conducive  to  manliness.  She  had,  also,  never  allowed 
herself  to  be  touched  ad  genitalia  by  others,  because  it 
would  have  revealed  her  great  secret.  The  menses  began 
at  seventeen,  but  were  always  scanty  and  without  pain. 
It  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  S.  had  a  horror  of  speaking 
of  menstruation;  that  it  was  a  thing  repugnant  to  her 
masculine  consciousness  and  feeling.  She  recognised  the 
abnormality  of  her  sexual  inclinations,  but  had  no  desire 
to  have  them  changed,  since  in  this  perverse  feeling  she 
felt  both  well  and  happy.  The  idea  of  sexual  intercourse 
with  men  disgusted  her,  and  she  also  thought  it  would  be 
impossible. 

Her  modesty  was  so  great  that  she  would  prefer  to 
sleep  among  men  rather  than  among  women.  Thus, 
when  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  answer  the  calls  of 
nature  or  to  change  her  linen,  it  was  necessary  for  her  to 
ask  her  companion  in  the  cell  to  turn  her  face  to  the 
window,  that  she  might  not  see  her. 

When  occasionally  S.  came  in  contact  with  this  com- 
panion,— a  woman  from  the  lower  walks  of  life, — she 
experienced  a  sexual  excitement  that  made  her  blush. 
Indeed,  without  being  asked,  S.  related  that  she  was 
overcome  with  actual  fear  when,  in  her  cell,  she  was 
compelled  to  force  herself  into  the  unusual  female  attire, 
Her  only  comfort  was  that  she  was  at  least  allowed  to 
keep  a  shirt.  Remarkable,  and  what  also  speaks  for  the 
significance  of  olfactory  sensations  in  her  vita  sexualis,  is 
her  statement  that,  on  the  occasions  of  Marie's  absence, 
she  had  sought  those  places  on  which  Marie's  head  was 
accustomed  to  repose,  and  smelled  them,  in  order  to  ex- 
perience the  delight  of  inhaling  the  odour  of  her  hair. 


436 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Among  women,  those  who  were  beautiful,  or  voluptuous, 
or  quite  young,  did  not  particularly  interest  her.  The 
physical  charms  of  women  she  made  subordinate.  As 
by  magnetic  attraction,  she  felt  herself  drawn  to  those 
between  twenty-four  and  thirty.  She  found  her  sexual 
satisfaction  exclusively  in  cor  pore  femince  (never  in  her 
own  person),  in  the  form  of  manustupration  of  the  beloved 
woman,  or  cunnilingus.  Occasionally  she  availed  herself 
of  a  stocking  stuffed  with  oakum  as  a  priapus.  These 
admissions  were  made  only  unwillingly  by  S.,  and  with 
apparent  shame;  just  as  in  her  writings  immodesty  or 
cynicism  are  never  found. 

She  was  religious,  had  a  lively  interest  in  all  that  is 
noble  and  beautiful, — men  excepted, — and  was  very  sensi- 
tive to  the  opinion  others  entertained  of  her  morality. 

She  deeply  regretted  that  in  her  passion  she  made  Ma- 
rie unhappy,  and  regarded  her  sexual  feelings  as  perverse, 
and  such  a  love  of  one  woman  for  another,  among  normal 
individuals,  as  morally  reprehensible.  She  had  great 
literary  talent  and  an  extraordinary  memory.  Her  only 
weakness  was  her  great  frivolity  and  her  incapability  to 
manage  money  and  property  reasonably.  But  she  was 
conscious  of  this  weakness,  and  did  not  care  to  talk 
about  it. 

She  was  153  centimetres  tall,  of  delicate  build,  thin, 
but  remarkably  muscular  on  the  breast  and  thighs.  Her 
gait  in  female  attire  was  awkward.  Her  movements  were 
powerful,  not  unpleasing,  though  they  were  somewhat 
masculine  and  lacking  in  grace.  She  greeted  one  with 
a  firm  pressure  of  the  hand.  Her  whole  carriage  was 
decided,  firm  and  somewhat  self-conscious.  Her  glance 
was  intelligent ;  mien  somewhat  diffident.  Feet  and  hands 
remarkably  small,  having  remained  in  an  infantile  stage 
of  development.  Extensor  surfaces  of  the  extremities 
remarkably  well  covered  with  hair,  while  there  was  not  the 
slightest  trace  of  beard,  in  spite  of  all  shaving  experi- 
ments. The  hips  did  not  correspond  in  any  way  with 
those  of  a  female.    Waist  wanting.    Pelvis  so  slim  and 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN,  437 

SO  little  prominent,  that  a  line  drawn  from  the  axilla  to 
tHe  corresponding  knee  was  straight — ^not  curved  inward 
by  a  waist  or  outward  by  the  pelvis.  The  skull  slightly 
oxycephalic,  and  in  all  its  measurements  below  the  aver- 
age of  the  female  skull  by  at  least  one  centimetre. 

Circumference  of  the  head  52  centimetres;  occipital 
half  circumference,  24  centimetres;  line  from  ear  to  ear, 
over  the  vertex,  23  centimetres;  anterior  half-circumfer- 
ance,  28.5  centimetres;  line  from  glabella  to  occiput,  30 
centimetres;  ear-chin  line,  26.5  centimetres;  long  diam- 
eter, 17  centimetres;  greatest  lateral  diameter,  13  centi- 
metres ;  diameter  at  auditory  meati,  12  centimetres ;  zygo- 
matic diameter,  11.2  centimetres.  Upper  jaw  strikingly 
projecting,  its  alveolar  process  projecting  beyond  the  under 
jaw  about  0.5  centimetre.  Position  of  the  teeth  not  fully 
normal ;  right  upper  canine  not  developed.  Mouth  remark- 
ably small ;  ears  prominent ;  lobes  not  differentiated,  pass- 
ing over  into  the  skin  of  the  cheek.  Hard  palate,  narrow 
and  high ;  voice  rough  and  deep ;  mammae  fairly  developed, 
soft  and  •  without  secretion.  Mons  veneris  covered  with 
thick,  dark  hair.  Genitals  completely  feminine,  without 
trace  of  hermaphroditic  appearance,  but  at  the  stage  of 
development  of  those  of  a  ten-year-old  girl.  The  labia 
majora  touching  each  other  almost  completely;  labia 
minora  having  a  cock's-comb-like  form,  and  projecting 
under  the  labia  majora.  Clitoris  small  and  very  sensitive. 
Frenulum  delicate;  perineum  very  narrow;  introitus 
vaginae  narrow ;  mucous  membrane  normal.  Hymen  want- 
ing (probably  congenitally)  ;  likewise  the  carunculse  myrti- 
formes.  Vagina  so  narrow  that  the  insertion  of  a  mem- 
brum  virile  would  be  impossible,  also  very  sensitive;  cer- 
tainly coitus  had  not  taken  place.  Uterus  felt,  through  the 
rectum,  to  be  about  the  size  of  a  walnut,  immovable  and 
retroflected. 

Pelvis  generally  narrowed  (dwarf -pel vis),  and  of  de- 
cidedly masculine  type.  Distance  between  anterior  su- 
perior spines  22.5  centimetres  (instead  of  26.3  centi- 
metres).   Distance  between  the  crests  of  the  ilii,  26.5 


438 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAXiIS 


centimetres  (instead  of  29.3  centimetres) ;  between  the  tro- 
chanters, 27.7  centimetres  (31) ;  the  external  conjugate 
diameter,  17.2  centimetres  (19  to  20) ;  therefore,  the  in- 
ternal conjugate,  presumably,  7.7  centimetres  (10.8).  On 
account  of  narrowness  of  the  pelvis,  the  direction  of  the 
thighs  not  convergent,  as  in  a  woman,  but  straight. 

The  opinion  given  showed  that  in  S.  there  was  a 
congenitally  abnormal  inversion  of  the  sexual  instinct, 
which,  indeed,  expressed  itself,  anthropologically,  in  anom- 
alies of  development  of  the  body,  depending  upon  great 
hereditary  taint;  further,  that  the  criminal  acts  of  S. 
had  their  foundation  in  her  abnormal  and  irresistible 
sexuality. 

S.'s  characteristic  expressions — **God  put  love  in  my 
heart.  If  He  created  me  so,  and  not  otherwise,  am  I, 
then,  guilty;  or  is  it  the  eternal,  incomprehensible  way 
of  fate?" — are  really  justified. 

The  court  granted  pardon.  The  countess  in  male 
attire,"  as  she  was  called  in  the  newspapers,  returned 
to  her  home,  and  again  gave  herself  out  as  Count  Sandor. 
Her  only  distress  was  her  lost  happiness  with  her  beloved 
Marie. 

A  married  woman,  in  Brandon,  Wisconsin,  whose 
case  is  reported  by  Dr.  Kiernan  (^^The  Medical  Standard," 
1888,  November  and  December),  was  more  fortunate. 
She  eloped,  in  1883,  with  a  young  girl,  married  her,  and 
lived  with  her  as  husband  undisturbed. 

An  interesting  '^historical"  example  of  androgyny  is 
a  case  reported  by  Spitzka  (*' Chicago  Medical  Eeview," 
20th  August,  1881).  The  gentleman  in  question  was 
Governor  of  New  York  and  lived  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Anne.  He  was  apparently  affected  with  moral  insanity; 
was  terribly  licentious,  and,  in  spite  of  his  high  position, 
could  not  keep  himself  from  going  about  in  the  streets 
in  female  attire,  coquetting  with  all  the  allurements  of  a 
prostitute. 

In  a  picture  of  him  that  has  been  preserved,  his  narrow 
brow,  asymmetrical  face,  feminine  features,  and  sensual 


CONGENITAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  439 

/ 

moutli  at  once  attract  attention.  It  is  certain  that  he 
never  actually  regarded  himself  as  a  woman. 

Complications  of  Antipathic  Sexual  Instinct. 

Moreover,  in  individuals  afflicted  with  sexual  inver- 
sion, in  themselves,  the  perverse  sexual  feeling  and  inclina- 
tion may  be  complicated  with  other  perverse  manifesta- 
tions. Thus  here,  with  reference  to  the  activity  of  the  in- 
stinct, there  may  be  acts  quite  analogous  to  acts  indulged  in 
by  individuals  in  perverse  satisfaction  of  the  instinct,  but 
who,  at  the  same  time,  have  a  natural  inclination  toward 
persons  of  the  opposite  sex. 

Owing  to  the  circumstance  that  abnormally  increased 
sexuality  is  almost  a  regular  accompaniment  of  anti- 
pathic sexual  feeling,  acts  of  lustful  sadistic  cruelty  in 
the  satisfaction  of  libido  are  easily  possible.  A  remarkable 
example  of  this  is  the  case  of  Zastrow  {Casper-Liman,  7. 
Auflage,  Bd.  i.,  p.  160;  ii.,  p.  487),  who  bit  one  of  his 
victims  (a  boy),  tore  his  prepuce,  slit  the  anus,  and 
strangled  the  child. 

Z.  came  of  a  psychopathic  grandfather  and  melan- 
cholic mother.  His  brother  indulged  in  abnormal  sexual 
pleasures,  and  committed  suicide. 

Z.  was  a  congenital  urning,  and  in  habitus  and  occupa- 
tion masculine.  There  was  phimosis.  Mentally,  he  was 
a  weak,  perverse,  socially  useless  man.  He  had  horror 
femince,  and,  in  his  dreams,  he  felt  himself  like  a  woman 
toward  a  man.  He  was  painfully  conscious  of  his  want 
of  normal  sexual  feeling  and  of  his  perverse  instinct,  and 
sought  satisfaction  in  mutual  onanism^  with  frequent 
desire  for  pederasty. 

Similar  sadistic  feelings  of  this  kind,  in  those  afflicted 
with  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  are  found  in  some  of  the 
foregoing  histories  {cf.  cases  128  and  129  of  this  edition, 
and  case  96  of  the  sixth  edition;  also  Moll,  "Contr.  Sex- 
ualempfindung,''  second  edition,  p.  189;  v.  Krafft,  "Jahrb. 


440 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


f.  Psychiatrie/'  xii.,  pp.  357  and  389;  Moll,  "'TJnter- 
suchungen  iiber  Libido  sexualis/'  cases  26  and  27). 

As  examples  of  perverse  sexual  satisfaction  dependent 
on  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  may  be  mentioned  the  Greek, 
who,  as  Athendus  reports,  was  in  love  with  a  statue  of 
Cupid,  and  defiled  it,  in  the  temple  of  Delphi ;  and  besides 
the  monstrous  cases  reported  by  Tardieu  (^^ Attentats,'^  p. 
272),  the  terrible  one  reported  by  Lombroso  (^^L'uomo 
delinquente,''  p.  200),  of  a  certain  Artusio,  who  wounded 
a  boy  in  the  abdomen,  and  abused  him  sexually  by  means 
of  the  incision. 

Cases  92,  110  and  115  (eighth  edition)  show  that 
fetichism  may  also  occur  with  antipathic  sexual  instinct; 
moreover  a  case  of  shoe-fetichism  related  by  me  in  "Jahr- 
biicher  f.  Psychiatric,''  xii.,  1 ;  Moll,  op.  cit.,  second  edi- 
tion, p.  179;  Gamier,  ^^Les  Fetichistes,"  p.  98. 

The  following  case,  taken  from  Gamier,  is  a  classical 
example  of  boot-fetichism.  At  times  masochism  forms  a 
complication  of  sexual  inversion  Cf.  Moll,  second  edition, 
p.  172  (case  12)  and  p.  190;  Hem,  ^^Internat.  Centralbl. 
f.  d.  Physiol,  and  Pathol,  der  Ham-  und  Sexualorgane,'^ 
iv..  Heft  5  (homosexuality  in  a  woman  with  passive  flagel- 
lantism  and  koprophagia)  ;  v.  Krafft,  case  43  in  sixth 
edition  of  this  book,  also  case  137  of  this  edition  and 
114  of  eighth  edition;  ditto  Jahrbiicher  fiir  Psychiatric,'^ 
xii.,  p.  339  (homosexuality,  abortive  masochism),  p.  351 
(psych,  hermaphrod.  masochism). 

Case  167.  Homosexuality.  X.,  twenty-six  years  of 
age,  of  the  upper  class,  was  arrested  for  having  prac- 
tised masturbation  in  a  public  park.  By  heredity  heavily 
tainted ;  skull  abnormal ;  was  peculiar  from  earliest  youth ; 
psychically  abnormal;  at  the  age  of  ten  he  began  to  show 
a  peculiar  interest  in  patent  leather  shoes;  began  to  mas- 
turbate at  thirteen,  but  in  order  to  procure  ejaculation 
he  had  to  fasten  his  eyes  upon  patent  leather  shoes.  He 
never  felt  any  inclination  towards  woman,  and  when,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  he  oiice  attempted  coitus  at  a 


^  CONGEOTTAL  SEXUAL  INVERSION  IN  WOMAN.  441 

brothel  derived  no  satisfaction  from  the  act.  With  the 
twenty-fourth  year  his  homosexual  instinct  began  to 
assert  itself  more  and  more.  But  he  felt  himself  drawn 
only  to  young  men  who  wore  elegant  clothes  and  patent 
leather  boots.  Thinking  of  such  men,  he  masturbated. 
His  ideal  was  to  live  with  such  a  man  and  practice  mutual 
masturbation.  Unable  to  realise  his  wishes,  he  would 
introduce  a  ball  into  his  anus,  and  moving  it  in  and  out 
fancy  himself  to  have  coitus  with  his  ideal  young  man 
wearing  patent  leather  boots.  Simultaneously  he  would 
masturbate.  During  this  imitation  of  passive  pederasty 
he  would  wear  drawers  made  of  red  silk.  For  some  time 
he  was  wont  to  stick  notices  on  public  buildings  to  this 
effect:  ^^My  nates  are  at  the  disposal  of  handsome  gentle- 
men who  wear  patent  leather  boots''.  Whilst  writing 
such  notices  and  looking  at  his  own  patent  leather  shoes, 
he  would  have  an  erection.  Since  his  sixteenth  year, 
when  young  men  began  to  interest  him,  he  had  eyes  only 
for  their  patent  leather  boots.  He  loved  to  loiter  about 
the  show-windows  of  boot  shops  and  the  drilling-grounds 
of  the  military  school,  where  he  had  opportunity  for  ad- 
miring the  officers  in  their  patent  leather  boots.  One 
day  he  bought  a  pair  for  himself  and  became  quite  in- 
toxicated by  gazing  at  them.  The  very  smell  of  them 
was  sufficient  to  excite  him  very  much  sexually.  He 
finally  put  them  on,  that  in  them  he  might  make  con- 
quests; but  he  was  not  successful.  ITow  he  used  them 
for  another  purpose.  He  would  masturbando  ejaculate 
into  them.  The  most  intense  lustful  pleasure  he  derived 
when  he  put,  during  this  act,  one  of  the  shoes  to  his  anus 
or  inter  femora,  rubbing  it  about  there.  When  one  day 
X.  found  a  defect  on  the  uppers  of  one  of  these  shoes, 
which  he  always  saved  most  carefully,  he  was  very  de- 
jected. He  looked  upon  himself  as  a  person  who  has 
just  discovered  the  first  wrinkle  in  the  face  of  his  beloved. 
One  day  when  in  the  park  he  thought  that  a  young  man 
made  advances  to  him  according  to  his  own  desire;  he 
was  highly  elated,  and  could  not  resist  to  expose  hi*  pe]> 


442 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


son.  He  was  arrested,  but  not  sentenced.  He  was  sent  to 
an  insane  asylum  (Garnier,  "Les  Feticliistes/'  p.  114). 

In  general,  the  acquired  cases  are  characterised  in 
that : — 

1.  The  homo-sexual  instinct  appears  as  a  secondary- 
factor,  and  always  may  be  referred  to  influences  (mas- 
turbatic  neurasthenia,  mental)  which  disturbed  normal 
sexual  satisfaction.  It  is,  however,  probable  that  here,  in 
spite  of  powerful  sensual  libido,  the  feehng  and  inclination 
for  the  opposite  sex  are  weak  ab  origine^  especially  in  a 
spiritual  and  aesthetic  sense. 

2.  The  homosexual  instinct,  so  long  as  inversio  sexualis 
has  not  yet  taken  place,  is  looked  upon,  by  the  individual 
aifected,  as  vicious  and  abnormal,  and  yielded  to  only 
faute  de  mieux. 

3.  The  heterosexual  instinct  long  remains  predominant, 
and  the  impossibility  to  satisfy  it  gives  pain.  It  weakens 
in  proportion  as  the  homosexual  feehng  gains  in  strength. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  congenital  cases : — 

(a)  The  homosexual  instinct  is  the  one  that  occurs 
primarily,  and  becomes  dominant  in  the  vita  sexualis.  It 
appears  as  the  natural  manner  of  satisfaction,  and  also 
dominates  the  dream-life  of  the  individual.. 

(&)  The  heterosexual  instinct  fails  completely,  or,  if 
it  should  make  its  appearance  in  the  history  of  the  indi- 
vidual (psycho-sexual  hermaphroditism),  it  is  still  but  an 
episodical  phenomenon  which  has  no  root  in  the  mental 
constitution,  and  is  essentially  but  a  means  to  satisfaction 
of  sexual  desire. 

The  differentiation  of  the  above  groups  of  congenital 
inverted  sexuality  from  one  another,  and  from  the  cases 
in  which  the  anomaly  is  acquired,  will,  after  the  foregoing, 
present  no  difiiculties. 

The  prognosis  of  the  cases  of  acquired  antipathic  sexual 
instinct  is,  at  all  events,  much  more  favourable  than  that 
of  the  congenital  cases.  In  the  former,  the  occurrence 
of  effemination — the  mental  inversion  of  the  individual,  in 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT.  '443 

the  sense  of  perverse  sexual  feeling — is  the  limit  beyond 
which  there  is  no  longer  hope  of  benefit  from  therapy.  In 
the  congenital  cases,  the  various  categories  established  in 
this  book  form  as  many  stages  of  psycho-sexual  taint,  and 
benefit  is  probable  only  within  the  category  of  the  psychical 
hermaphrodites,  thought  possible  (vide  the  case  of  Schrenk- 
Notzing)  in  that  of  the  urnings. 

The  prophylaxis  of  these  conditions  becomes  thus  the 
more  important — for  the  congenital  cases,  prohibition  of 
the  reproduction  of  such  unfortunates;  for  the  acquired 
cases,  protection  from  the  injurious  influences  which  expe- 
rience teaches  may  lead  to  the  fatal  inversion  of  the  sexual 
instinct. 

Numerous  predisposed  individuals  meet  this  sad  fate, 
because  parents  and  teachers  have  no  suspicion  of  the 
danger  which  masturbation  brings  in  its  train  to  children. 

In  many  schools  and  academies  masturbation  and  vice 
are  actually  cultivated.  At  present  much  too  little  atten- 
tion is  given  to  the  mental  and  moral  peculiarities  of  the 
pupils. 

If  only  the  tasks  are  done,  nothing  more  is  asked. 
That  many  pupils  are  thus  ruined  in  body  and  soul  is  never 
considered. 

In  obedience  to  affected  prudery,  the  vita  sexualis  is 
made  a  mystery  to  the  developing  youth,  and  not  the  slight- 
est attention  given  to  the  excitations  of  his  sexual  instinct. 
How  few  family  physicians  are  ever  called  in,  during  the 
years  of  development  of  children,  to  give  advice  to  their 
patients  that  are  often  so  greatly  predisposed! 

It  is  thought  that  all  must  be  left  to  N'ature;  in  the 
meantime,  Nature  rises  in  her  power,  and  leads  the  help- 
less, unprotected  innocent  into  dangerous  by-paths. 

Diagnosis,  Prognosis  and  Therapie  of  Antipathic  Sexual 

Instinct 

The  diagnosis  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct  is  of  great 
clinical  and.  particularly,  forensic,  import.    At  the  first 


444 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


glance,  it  opens  some  difficulties,  since  the  symptoms  are 
rather  of  a  subjective  nature  and  the  perverse  acts  offer 
so  many  aspects  which  may  mean  perversion  as  well  as 
perversity.  Much  depends  on  the  veracity  of  the  patient, 
and  that  leaves  in  many  cases  much  to  be  desired.  Auto- 
biographies are  to  be  taken  cum  grano  salis,  and  should 
be  discounted.  Nevertheless  the  expert  will  soon  be  able 
to  weed  out  exaggeration  and  untruth.  Antipathic  sexual 
instinct  is  such  a  complicated  psychical  anomaly  that  only 
the  experienced  specialist  can  quickly  distinguish  between 
truth  and  fiction. 

True  knowledge  is  easiest  ascertained  from  those  who 
despair  of  their  existence,  meditate  suicide  (which  fre- 
quently is  found  in  those  who  have  cultured  minds  and 
realise  the  anomaly  of  their  position),  but  as  a  last  resort 
come  to  the  medical  man  for  advice;  also  from  those  who 
are  confronted  with  legal  proceedings,  or  who  through  cir- 
cumstances are  forced  into  marriage  and  doubt  their 
virility.  These  patients  have  an  urgent  need  for  help,  and 
will  tell  the  truth.  In  strong  contrast  to  these  really  un- 
fortunate beings  stand  those,  generally  of  but  little  ethical 
and  intellectual  value,  who  seek  to  enrich  medical 
knowledge  by  fatuous  gossip  about  their  disease.  Every 
case  of  genuine  homosexuality  has  its  etiology,,  its  concom- 
itant physical  and  psychical  symptoms,  its  reactions  upon 
the  whole  psychical  being,  and  must  be  reduced  to  an  ab- 
normal sexual  instinct  which  is  diametrically  opposed  to 
the  physical  sex  of  the  affected  individual,  as  it  can  be 
explained  upon  that  basis  only.  The  diagnosis  is  to  be 
found  in  the  anamnesis,  the  aetiology,  the  vita  anteacta, 
the  psycho-sexual  development  of  the  case.  To  form  a 
clear  opinion  it  behooves  to  judge  the  case  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  anthropological  clinical  history  of  its  devel- 
opment, and  to  collect  synthetically  all  the  various  details. 

The  opinion  will  then  be  as  definitely  established  as  in 
any  other  clinical  case. 

The  first  important  point  based  upon  ripe  experience 
is  the  fact  that  antipathic  sexual  instinct  as  an  anomaly 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT. 


445 


of  sexual  life  is  only  found  in  individuals  who  are  tainted, 
as  a  rule,  hereditarily.  In  foro  particular  stress  should  be 
laid  upon  this  point.  In  all  cases  in  which  anamnesis  has 
been  proved,  this  taint  will  be  readily  found.  Per  se,  this 
proof  is  of  no  value,  for  perversity  also  grows  in  this  soil. 
But  it  assumes  importance  when  the  same  frailty  is  found 
to  exist  in  several  members  of  the  same  family  or  appears 
in  the  form  of  other  perversions  of  the  sexual  life  either 
in  the  individual  himself  under  consideration,  or  in  other 
members  of  his  family.  Often  enough  the  patient  pre- 
sents other  psychical  or  neurotic  anomalies,  even  psychical 
diseases,  defects  or  such  like.  They  are  so  frequent  and 
numerous  that  one  is  often  led  to  doubt  whether  the  man- 
ifestation under  observation  belongs  in  the  sphere  of  neu- 
ropathia  or  that  of  psychopathia. 

These  neurotic  and  psychopathic  manifestations  de- 
mand a  most  careful  scrutiny  as  to  their  meaning.  !N'ot 
uncommonly  they  are  signs  of  taint  or  degeneration  of 
equivalent  value  with  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  or  they 
may  be  reactions  emanating  from  external  defects  to  which 
tainted  individuals  are  more  subject  than  normal  man  is, 
often  indirectly  depending  on  antipathic  sexual  instinct 
on  the  ground  of  psychical  conflicts  in  which  these  unfor- 
tunates are  frequently  implicated  by  virtue  of  their  sexual 
perversions ;  or  they  may  be  found  to  spring  from  the  im- 
perfect or  perverse  gratification  of  their  sexual  needs 
(onanism). 

Certain  it  is  that  these  persons  are,  as  a  rule,  also 
abnormal  so  far  as  character  is  concerned.  They  are  neither 
man  nor  woman,  a  mixture  of  both,  with  secondary  psy- 
chical and  physical  characteristics  of  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other  sex,  which  grow  out  of  the  interfering  influences  of 
a  bisexual  predisposition  and  disturb  the  development  of  a 
well  defined  and  complete  being.  But  this  peculiarity  is 
only  found  in  fully  developed  cases.  A  psychical  disease 
per  se  is  not  a  necessary  adjunct  to  antipathic  sexual  in- 
stinct.   All  nations  and  all  eras  have  produced  perverse 


446 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


men,  whose  renown  and  greatness  adorn  the  history  of 
their  mother  country  or  that  of  the  world. 

This  abnormality  must  not  be  looked  upon  as  a  patho- 
logical condition  or  as  a  crime,  but  the  development  of  the 
vita  sexualis  with  its  reacting  effects  upon  the  mind  and 
the  moral  sense;  it  may  proceed  with  the  same  harmony 
and  satisfying  influence  as  in  the  normally  disposed,  a  fur- 
ther argument  in  favour  of  the  assumption  that  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  is  an  equivalent  for  heterosexuality.  If 
ethical  and  intellectual  defects  are  present,  they  may  be 
looked  upon  merely  as  complicated  anomalies  resulting 
from  the  taint. 

An  important  factor  is  precocity  in  sexual  life,  which 
together  with  its  antithesis,  i.e.,  retarded  puberty,  is  the 
distinguishing  mark  of  a  degenerated  constitution.  It  is 
quite  another  thing  when  the  vita  sexualis  takes  an  inverted 
course  at  an  early  period,  particularly  at  a  time  when  evil 
influences  or  bad  examples  cannot  be  at  work.  For  in- 
stance, when  little  boys  prefer  male  adults  to  their  female 
relations,  or  show  a  predilection  for  girls'  games  and  oc- 
cupations or  particular  skill  in  sewing,  knitting,  embroid- 
ering, etc.,  or  inclination  for  female  toilet,  find  pleasure  in 
wearing  girls'  clothing,  choose  girls'  characters  in  private 
theatricals  or  in  masquerades  and  betray  great  cleverness 
in  impersonating  the  female  character,  etc. 

Homosexual  acts  (mutual  masturbation,  etc.)  previous 
to  puberty  are  no  proof  of  antipathic  sexuality.  They 
may  spring  from  hypersexuality,  precocity  or  some  exter- 
nal influences.  They  do  not  necessarily  lead  to  inverted 
sexuality,  only  then  when  the  individual  is  predisposed. 
It  is  at  the  time  of  puberty  that  the  vita  sexualis  is  devel- 
oped and  receives  its  direction  for  the  rest  of  life.  An 
unconscious  desire  for  sexual  union,  often  enough  stimu- 
lated by  individuals  of  the  same  sex,  brings  the  playmates 
together,  tickling  and  other  tactile  irritations — quite  apart 
from  the  genuine  sexual  instinct — lead  to  acts  of  mastur- 
bation in  corpore  virili,  but  they  are  not  coupled  with  psy- 
chical feelings  in  the  sense  of  homosexual  acts.   The  saiXie 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT. 


447 


analogous  manifestations  may  be  observed  in  young  ani- 
mals. '  '  ' 

But  rarely  antipathic  sexuality  develops  from  these 
horseplays.  Puberty  teaches  the  youthful  sinner  to  know 
his  true  sex  soon  enough.  From  the  sexual  instinct,  based 
upon  a  series  of  physical  and  psychical  attractions,  ema- 
nates the  sexual  leaning  to  persons  of  the  opposite  gender, 
and  the  earlier  homosexual  encounters  are  remembered 
with  shame  and  confusion.  But  the  homosexual  act  com- 
mitted after  puberty  has  set  in,  is  tJie  decisive  step  in  the 
wrong  direction.  The  stadium  of  sexual  differentiation 
covers  sometimes  a  long  period  and  often  reaches  far  be- 
yond that  of  physical  sexual  development. 

Of  great  value  in  diagnosing  a  case  is  to  ascertain  the 
dream-life  and  that  of  sleep  in  the  patient.  The  true 
status  of  the  sexual  instinct  is  here  often  pitifully  por- 
trayed. Nocturnal  pollutions  are  found  to  be  coloured  (a) 
in  cases  of  psychical  hermaphroditism  predominantly,  (b) 
in  all  the  other  grades  of  the  anomaly  exclusively  in  the 
sense  of  homosexuality.  In  cases  of  effeminatio  (viragin- 
ity)  they  are  accompanied  by  dream-pictures  delineating 
the  passive  (in  man)  or  the  active  (in  woman)  role  in  the 
sexual  act. 

The  presence  of  physical  or  psychical  abnormal  char- 
acteristics may  aid  diagnosis  if  they  are  coupled  with  other 
more  distinctive  signs.  By  themselves  they  prove  nothing, 
as  they  are  also  found  in  individuals  not  tainted,  for  in- 
stance, in  gynsecomasts,  bearded  women,  etc.,  etc. 

In  the  well-pronounced  cases  of  antipathic  sexual  in- 
stinct (effeminatio  and  viraginity)  the  physical  and  psy- 
chical characteristics  of  inverted  sexuality  are  so  plentiful 
that  a  mistake  cannot  occur.  They  are  simply  men  in 
women's  garb,  and  women  in  men's  attire,  especially  if  they 
have  full  freedom  of  action.  Psychically  they  consider 
themselves  to  belong  to  the  opposite  sex.  We  have  seen 
women  urnings  in  the  army,  and  men  urnings  among  the 
waitresses  in  restaurants.  They  act,  walk,  gesticulate  and 
behave  in  every  way  exactly  as  if  they  were  persons  of  the 


448 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sex  whicli  they  simulate.  I  have  known  male  nrninga 
who  excelled  woman  in  wiles,  loquacity,  coquetry,  etc., 
etc. 

In  pronounced  cases  bashfulness  and  timidity  in  the 
presence  of  persons  of  his  own  sex  will  be  observed  in  the 
homosexual  individual. 

That  urnings  know  each  other  instinctively  is  a  fable. 
They  recognize  one  another  by  their  gait,  natural  shyness 
and  by  signs  just  the  same  as  normal  persons  of  opposite 
sexes  do  if  they  go  adventure  hunting. 

The  higher  grades  of  homosexuality  show  horror  fem- 
inse  to  the  extent  of  absolute  impotence.  Imagination 
sometimes  assists  in  producing  erection  and  rendering  coi- 
tus  possible.  Diagnosis  is  definitely  established  when  abso- 
lute  proof  is  at  hand  that  a  homosexual  person  is  perma- 
nently attracted  by  a  person  of  the  same  sex  and  led  to  a 
sexual  act  with  that  person,  the  act  granting  full  satisfac- 
tion to  the  sexual  instinct,  whilst  similar  attractions  do  not 
exist  in  persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  if  the  disgust  for 
persons  of  the  opposite  sex  is  insuperable. 

The  distinction  between  congenital  and  acquired  (or 
rather  retarded)  homosexuality  is  considered  to  be  of  theo- 
retical and  therapeutical  value. 

Some  authors  claim  that  congenital  homosexuality 
does  not  exist,  but  that  this  anomaly  is  acquired  from  oth- 
ers. But  I  cannot  accept  their  arguments,  for  they  do 
not  explain  the  presence  of  the  distinguishing  symptoms  so 
often  found  in  the  earliest  years  of  the  individuals  af- 
flicted, i.e. J,  Sit  a  period  in  which  external  influences  may  be 
considered  to  be  absolutely  excluded. 

Case  1 68.  Taken  from  Moll,  "Libido  Sexualis,"  case 
69,  p.  726.  A  young  man,  thirty-four  years  of  age,  was 
from  age  seventeen  drawn  to  young  men,  and  had  no 
liking  for  girls.  He  was  an  effeminated  character,  had  a 
girl's  nickname,  and  played  with  dolls.  When  drunk  he 
allowed  men  to  masturbate  him.  When  sober,  however, 
he  would  not  permit  it,  because  he  thought  it  stupid. 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXtTAL  INSTINCT. 


449 


To  parents  and  teachers,  the  experiences  detailed  in 
this  and  numerous  other  scientific  works  on  masturbation, 
present  valuable  suggestions. 

Educators  are  often  too  "naive''  in  their  views,  and 
their  power  of  observation  is  too  limited  to  notice  the  sexual 
abuses  rampant  among  the  boys  entrusted  to  their  care 
and  practised  even  during  lesson  time.  In  a  few  excep- 
tional cases  they  have  even  become  seducers  of  boys. 
Everything  that  is  calculated  to  unduly  further  the  devel- 
opment of  the  vita  sexualis — such  as  prolonged  sitting  on 
the  form,  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks,  etc. — should  be 
strictly  avoided.  A  boy  with  inverted  sexuality  should  be 
rigidly  excluded  from  all  public  educational  institutions 
for  boys  and  sent  to  a  hospital  for  nervous  disorders.  Boys 
should  not  be  permitted  to  sleep  together  at  home.  Swim- 
ming lessons  and  bathing  en  masse  should  be  under  the 
careful  and  strict  supervision  of  a  competent  person. 

Neither  should  a  child  with  antipathic  sexual  instinct 
be  placed  under  the  isolated  tuition  of  a  tutor  or  private 
master,  for  frequently  the  first  object  of  homosexual  love 
is  the  instructor  at  home.  Care  should  be  taken  that 
tainted  children  are  not  caressed  and  fondled  by  persons 
of  the  same  sex.  Elagellatio  ad  podicem  should  never  be 
permitted. 

The  best  place  for  children  that  are  perversely  (sex- 
ually) inclined  is  the  public  school  where  co-education  of 
the  sexes  prevails.  An  early  preference  for  games,  occu- 
pations and  pastimes  of  the  opposite  sex  should  be  strongly 
discountenanced  and  interdicted.  Masturbation  should  be 
carefully  watched  in  both  sexes.  Early  signs  of  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  should  at  once  be  noticed,  and  hypnotic  and 
suggestive  treatment  applied,  for  there  is  more  hope  for 
eradicating  the  evil  in  its  earlier  stages  than  when  the  in- 
dividual so  tainted  has  already  been  lost  in  the  quagmire 
of  sexual  perversion. 

The  lines  of  treatment ,  when  antipathic  sexual  instinct 
exists,  are  the  following : — 

'  29 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXXTALIS. 


1.  Prevention  of  onanism  and  removal  of  other  influ- 
ences injurious  to  the  vita  sexualis. 

2.  Cure  of  the  neurosis  {neurasthenia  sexualis  and  uni- 
versalis)  arising  out  of  the  unhygienic  conditions  of  the 
vita  sexualis. 

3.  Mental  treatment,  in  the  sense  of  combating  homo- 
sexual, and  encouraging  heterosexual,  feelings  and  im- 
pulses. 

The  momentum  of  the  treatment  lies  in  fulfilling  the 
third  indication,  particularly  with  reference  to  onanism. 

Only  in  very  few  cases,  where  acquired  antipathic 
sexual  instinct  has  not  progressed  far,  can  the  fulfilment 
of  1  and  2  be  sufficient,  as  a  case  fully  reported  by  the 
author  in  the  ^^Irrenfreund,''  1885,  No.  1,  proves.  Cf. 
ease  128,  ninth  edition  of  this  book. 

As  a  rule,  physical  treatment,  even  though  it  be  rein- 
forced morally  by  good  advice  with  reference  to  the  avoid- 
ance of  masturbation,  the  repression  of  homosexual  feel- 
ings and  impulses,  and  the  encouragement  of  heterosexual 
desires,  will  not  prove  sufficient,  even  in  cases  of  acquired 
sexual  inversion. 

Here  a  method  of  mental  treatment — hypnotic  sugges- 
tion— is  all  that  can  really  benefit  the  patient. 

I  know  of  but  one  case  in  which  auto-suggestion  proved 
successful,  cf.  case  129,  ninth  edition. 

As  a  rule,  only  suggestion  coming  from  a  second  per- 
son^ and  that  by  means  of  hypnosis^  promises  success. 

In  such  cases,  the  object  of  post  hypnotic  suggestion 
is  to  remove  the  impulse  to  masturbation  and  homosexual 
feelings,  and  to  encourage  heterosexual  emotions  with  a 
sense  of  virility. 

A  prerequisite  is,  of  course,  the  possibility  to  induce 
hypnosis  of  sufficient  intensity.  It  is,  unfortunately,  in 
these  very  cases  of  neurasthenia  that  this  proves  impossi- 
ble, since  the  subject  is  often  excited,  embarrassed,  and 
in  no  condition  to  concentrate  the  thoughts. 

By  reason  of  the  great  benefit  that  can  be  given  to 
such  unfortunates,  and  with  Ladame's  case  in  view  {v. 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT. 


451 


infra)  y  in  all  such  cases,  everything  should  be  done  to  force 
hypnosis — the  only  means  of  salvation.  The  result,  in  the 
three  following  cases,  was  satisfactory : — 

Case  169.  Antipathic  sexual  instinct  acquired 
through  masturbation.  Mr.  X.,  merchant,  aged  twenty- 
nine.  Father's  parents  healthy.  Nothing  nervous  in 
father's  family. 

Father  was  an  irritable,  peevish  old  man.  One  brother 
of  the  father  was  a  man-about-town,  and  died  unmarried. 

Mother  died  in  third  confinement,  when  the  patient  was 
six  years  old;  she  had  a  deep,  rough,  masculine  voice,  and 
coarse  appearance.  Of  the  children,  one  brother  is  irri- 
table, "melancholic,^'  and  indifferent  to  women. 

When  a  child,  patient  had  scarlet  fever  with  delirium. 
Up  to  his  fourteenth  year  he  was  light-hearted  and  social, 
but,  after  that,  quiet,  solitary,  and  "melancholic".  The 
first  trace  of  sexual  feeling  appeared  in  his  tenth  or  elev- 
enth year,  and  at  that  time  he  learned  masturbation  from 
other  boys,  and  practised  mutual  onanism  with  them. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  or  fourteen,  ejaculation  for  the 
first  time.  Patient  had  felt  no  evil  results  of  onanism  until 
the  last  three  months. 

At  school  he  learned  easily,  but  was  troubled  with  head- 
aches. After  the  age  of  twenty,  pollutions,  in  spite  of 
daily  practice  of  onanism.  With  pollutions  occurred  "pro- 
creative''  dreams,  as  man  and  wife  might  perform  the  act. 
In  his  seventeenth  year  he  was  seduced  into  mutual  onan- 
ism by  a  man  having  a  love  for  men.  He  found  satisfac- 
tion in  this,  inasmuch  as  he  was  always  very  passionate 
sexually.  It  was  a  long  time  before  the  patient  again 
sought  new  opportunities  for  intercourse  with  males.  He 
did  it  simply  to  rid  himself  of  semen. 

He  felt  no  friendship  or  love  for  the  person  with  whom 
he  had  intercourse.  He  felt  satisfaction  only  when  he 
played  the  passive  role — when  manustupration  was  prac- 
tised on  him.  When  the  act  was  once  completed,  he  had 
no  respect  for  the  individual.    If  it  happened  that,  later, 


452 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIIS. 


he  came  to  respect  the  man,  then  he  ceased  to  indulge  in 
the  act  with  him.  Later  it  became  indifferent  to  him 
whether  he  masturbated  or  had  masturbation  practised  on 
him.  When  he  himself  practised  onanism,  he  always 
thought  of  pleasing  men  practising  onanism  on  him  dur- 
ing the  act.   He  preferred  a  hard,  rough  hand. 

The  patient  thought  that,  had  he  not  been  led  astray, 
he  would  have  arrived  at  a  natural  mode  of  satisfaction  of 
his  sexual  desires.  He  never  felt  love  for  his  own  sex, 
though  he  had  pleased  himself  with  the  thought  of  loving 
men.  At  first  he  had  had  sensual  inclinations  toward  the 
opposite  sex.  He  had  taken  pleasure  in  dancing,  and  he 
had  been  pleased  with  v/omen,  but  he  had  taken  more 
pleasure  in  the  figure  than  the  face.  He  had  had  erections 
at  the  sight  of  women  that  pleased  him.  He  had  never 
attempted  coitus,  for  fear  of  infection;  whether  he  was 
potent  or  not  with  women,  he  did  not  know.  He  thought 
he  could  be  so  no  longer,  because  his  feeling  for  women 
had  grown  cold,  especially  during  late  years. 

While  previously,  in  his  sensual  dreams,  he  had  had 
ideas  of  both  men  and  women,  of  late  years  he  had  dreamed 
only  of  approaches  to  men;  he  could  not  remember  that 
he  had  dreamed,  in  late  years,  of  sexual  relations  with  a 
woman.  At  the  theatre,  as  well  as  in  the  circus  and  ballet, 
the  feminine  figure  had  always  interested  him.  In  mu- 
seums, masculine  and  feminine  statues  had  affected  him 
equally. 

Patient  was  a  great  smoker,  a  beer-drinker,  loved  male 
society,  and  was  an  athlete  and  skater.  Anything  dandi- 
fied was  repugnant  to  him,  and  he  had  never  felt  any  de- 
sire to  please  men ;  he  would  even  have  preferred  to  please 
women. 

He  now  felt  his  position  to  be  painful,  because  onanism 
had  obtained  the  upper  hand.  Masturbation,  that  had 
previously  been  practised  without  evil  effects,  now  began 
to  disclose  its  bad  results. 

Since  July,  1889,  he  had  suffered  with  neuralgia  of 
the  testicles.    The  pain  occurred  particularly  at  night;  and 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  mSTINCT. 


453 


at  night  tbere  was  also  trembling  (increased  reflex  excita- 
bility). 

Sleep  was  not  refresbing^  and  be  would  wake  up  with 
pain  in  tbe  testicles.  He  was  inclined,  now,  to  indulge 
more  frequently  in  onanism.  He  was  afraid  of  tbe  con- 
sequences of  tbe  babit.  He  boped  tbat  bis  sexual  life 
migbt  still  be  turned  into  normal  cbannels.  Now,  be 
tbougbt  of  tbe  future;  be  bad  a  relation  witb  a  girl,  wbo 
was  attractive  to  bim,  and  tbe  tbougbt  to  possess  ber  as 
a  wife  was  pleasing. 

For  five  days  be  bad  abstained  from  onanism,  but  be 
could  scarcely  believe  tbat  be  would  be  able,  witb  bis  own 
strength,  to  overcome  tbe  babit.  Of  late  be  bad  been 
very  mucb  depressed,  having  lost  all  desire  for  work,  and 
become  tired  of  life. 

Patient  was  tall,  powerful,  well  nourished,  and  had  a 
thick  growth  of  beard.  Skull  and  skeleton  normal.  Knee- 
jerks  very  prompt ;  deep  reflexes  in  upper  extremities  much 
increased.  Pupils  dilated,  equal,  and  acted  promptly. 
Carotids  of  equal  calibre;  hyperaesthesia  urethrse;  cords 
and  testicles  not  sensitive ;  genitals  normal. 

The  patient  was  calmed,  and  given  hope  for  the  future, 
provided  that  he  gave  up  onanism  and  attempted  to  trans- 
fer his  sexual  desires  from  persons  of  his  own  sex  to 
females. 

Hip-baths  (24^  to  20°  E.)  ;  extr.  Secal.  cornut.  aquos., 
0.5;  antipyrin,  1.0  (pro  die)]  pot.  brom.  4.0  (evenings), 
were  ordered. 

13th  December.  To-day  the  patient  came,  in  a  dis- 
turbed condition  of  mind,  complaining  tbat,  unaided,  he 
was  unable  to  resist  the  impulse  to  masturbate,  and  he 
asked  for  help. 

A  trial  of  hypnosis  induced  a  condition  of  deep  lethargy 
in  the  patient. 

He  was  given  the  following  suggestions: — 

1.  I  can  not,  must  not,  and  will  not  masturbate  again. 

2.  I  abhor  the  love  of  my  own  sex,  and  shall  never 
again  think  men  handsome. 


454 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALTS. 


3.  I  shall  and  will  become  well  again,  fall  in  love  with 
a  virtuous  woman,  be  happy,  and  make  her  happy. 

14th  December.  While  out  walking  to-day,  patient 
saw  a  handsome  man,  and  felt  himself  powerfully  drawn 
toward  him. 

From  this  time  there  were  hypnotic  sittings  every 
second  day,  with  the  above  suggestions. 

18th  December  (fourth  sitting),  somnambulism  oc- 
curred; the  impulse  to  onanism  and  interest  in  men  dis- 
appeared. 

At  the  eighth  sitting  ^^complete  virility''  was  added  to 
the  above  suggestions.  The  patient  felt  himself  morally 
elevated  and  physically  strengthened.  The  neuralgia  of 
the  testicles  had  disappeared.  He  now  found  that  he  was 
without  sexual  feeling. 

He  now  believed  himself  free  from  masturbation  and 
inverted  sexual  inclination. 

After  the  eleventh  sitting  he  thought  further  help  was 
unnecessary.  He  wished  to  go  home,  and  marry.  Ha  felt 
w^ell  and  potent.  Early  in  January,  1890,  treatment 
ceased. 

In  March,  1890,  the  patient  wrote:  ^^I  have  since  had 
several  occasions  on  which  it  has  been  necessary  for  me 
to  use  all  my  moral  strength  in  order  to  overcome  my 
habit,  and,  thank  God,  I  have  been  successful  in  freeing 
myself  from  this  vice.  Several  times  I  have  had  oppor- 
tunity for  sexual  intercourse,  and  I  have  found  pleasure 
in  it.    I  look  calmly  on  my  happy  future.'' 

Other  cases  successfully  treated  by  suggestion  may  be 
found  in  Wetterstrand,  Der  Hypnotismus  und  seine  An- 
wendung  in  der  praktischen  Medicin,  1891,  p.  52  u.  ff. ; — 
BernJieim,  ^^Hypnotisme,"  Paris,  1891,  etc.,  p.  38. 

The  foregoing  details  of  the  successful  results  of  hyp- 
notic suggestion,  in  cases  of  acquired  sexual  inversion, 
make  it  seem  possible  that  those  unfortunates  who  are 
afflicted  with  congenital  perversion  may  be  helped  in  some 
degree  by  the  same  means. 

Of  course  the  proposition  is  different  as  regards  cases 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT. 


455 


of  a  congenital  anomaly.  To  correct  a  morbid  psycho- 
sexual  existence  is  a  most  difl&cult  problem. 

The  most  favourable  cases  are  those  of  psychosexual 
hermaphroditism  in  which  at  least  rudimentary  hetero- 
sexual feelings  may  be  strengthened  by  suggestion  and 
brought  into  active  practice. 

Case  170.  Mr.  von  X.,  aged  twenty-five,  landed 
proprietor.  He  came  of  a  neuropathic,  irascible  father, 
who  was  said  to  have  been  sexually  normal.  His  mother 
was  nervous,  as  were  her  two  sisters.  Maternal  grand- 
mother was  nervous,  and  maternal  grandfather  a  roue, 
much  given  to  venery.  Patient  was  like  his  mother,  and 
an  only  child.  From  birth  he  was  weak,  suffered  much 
with  migraine,  and  was  nervous.  He  passed  through  sev- 
eral illnesses.  At  fifteen  he  began  masturbation,  without 
having  been  taught. 

Until  his  seventeenth  year  he  never  had  feeling  for 
men,  or,  in  fact,  any  sexual  inclination;  but  at  this  time 
desire  for  men  arose.  He  fell  in  love  with  a  comrade. 
His  friend  returned  .his  love.  They  embraced  and  kissed 
and  indulged  in  mutual  onanism.  Occasionally  patient 
practised  coitus  inter  femora  viri.  He  abhorred  pederasty. 
Lascivious  dreams  were  concerned  only  with  men.  In 
circus  and  theatre  males  alone  interested  him.  The  inclin- 
ation was  for  those  of  about  twenty  years.  Handsome,  tall 
forms  were  enticing  to  him.  Given  these  conditions,  he 
was  quite  indifferent  to  other  characteristics  of  the  men. 
In  his  sexual  affairs  with  men  his  part  was  always  that  of 
a  man. 

After  his  eighteenth  year  the  patient  was  always  a 
source  of  anxiety  to  his  highly  respected  parents,  for  he 
then  began  a  love-affair  with  a  male  waiter,  who  fleeced 
him  and  made  him  an  object  of  remark  and  ridicule.  He 
was  taken  home.  He  consorted  with  servants  and  hostlers. 
He  caused  a  scandal.  He  was  sent  away  to  travel  about. 
In  London  he  got  into  a  "blackmailing  scrape,"  but  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  to  his  home. 


456 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


He  profited  in  no  way  by  this  bitter  experience,  and 
again  showed  disgraceful  inclinations  toward  men.  Pa- 
tient was  sent  to  me  to  be  cured  of  his  fatal  peculiarity 
(December,  1888).  Tall,  stately,  robust,  well-nourished, 
of  masculine  build;  large,  well-formed  genitals.  Gait, 
voice,  and  attitude  masculine.  Pronounced  masculine  pas- 
sions. He  smoked  but  little,  and  only  cigarettes;  drank 
little,  and  was  fond  of  confectionery.  He  loved  music, 
arts,  aesthetics,  flowers,  and  moved  in  ladies'  society  by 
preference.  He  wore  a  moustache,  the  face  being  other- 
wise cleanly  shaved.  His  garments  were  in  nowise  re- 
markable. He  was  a  soft,  hlase  fellow,  and  a  do-nothing. 
He  would  lie  in  bed  mornings,  and  could  scarcely  be  made 
to  rise  before  noon.  He  said  he  had  never  regarded  his 
inclination  toward  his  own  sex  as  abnormal.  He  looked 
upon  it  as  congenital ;  but,  taught  by  his  evil  experiences, 
he  wished  to  be  cured  of  his  perversion.  He  had  little 
faith  in  his  own  will.  He  had  tried  to  reform,  but  always 
lapsed  into  masturbation,  which  he  found  injurious,  inas- 
much as  it  caused  (slight)  neurasthenic  symptoms.  There 
was  no  moral  defect.  Intelligence  was  a  little  below  the 
average.  Careful  education  and  aristocratic  manners  were 
apparent.  The  exquisite  neuropathic  eye  betrayed  a  ner- 
vous constitution.  The  patient  was  not  a  complete  and 
hopeless  urning.  He  had  heterosexual  feelings,  his  sen- 
sual inclinations  toivard  the  opposite  sex,  however,  were 
manifested  hut  weahly  and  infrequently.  When  nineteen, 
he  was  first  taken  to  a  brothel  by  friends.  He  experienced 
no  horror  femince,  had  efficient  erections,  and  some  pleas- 
ure in  coitus,  but  not  the  instinctive  delight  he  experienced 
while  embracing  men. 

Since  then,  patient  asserted  that  he  had  had  coitus  six 
times,  twice  sua  sponte.  He  gave  the  assurance  that  he 
was  always  capable  of  it,  but  he  did  it  only  faute  de  mieux, 
as  he  did  masturbation,  when  the  sexual  impulse  troubled 
him,  as  a  substitute  for  intercourse  with  men.  He  had 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  finding  a  sympathetic  lady  and 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTIITCT. 


457 


marrying  her.  He  would  regard  marital  cohabitation  and 
abstinence  from  intercourse  with  men  as  hard  duties. 

Since  there  were  rudiments  of  heterosexual  feelings 
present,  and  the  case  could  not  be  looked  upon  as  hopeless, 
it  seemed  that  treatment  was  indicated.  The  indications 
were  clear  enough,  but  there  was  no  support  for  them  in 
the  will  of  the  indolent  patient,  so  unconscious  of  his  own 
position.  It  lay  near  to  seek  support  for  the  moral  influ- 
ence in  hypnosis.  The  fulfilment  of  this  hope  seemed 
doubtful,  because  the  famous  Hansen  had  tried  several 
times,  in  vain,  to  hypnotise  him. 

At  the  same  time,  by  reason  of  the  most  important 
social  interests  of  the  patient,  it  was  necessary  to  make 
another  attempt.  To  my  great  surprise,  Bernheim's  pro- 
cedure induced  immediately  a  condition  of  deep  lethargy, 
with  possibility  of  post-hypnotic  suggestion. 

At  the  second  sitting  somnambulism  was  induced  by 
merely  looking  at  him.  The  patient  easily  yielded  to  sug- 
gestions of  all  kinds;  indeed,  contractures  were  induced 
by  stroking  him.  He  was  awakened  by  counting  three. 
Awakened,  patient  had  amnesia  for  all  the  events  of  the 
hypnotic  state.  Hypnosis  was  induced  every  second  or 
third  day  for  the  communication  of  hypnotic  suggestions. 
At  the  same  time,  moral  and  hydro-therapeutic  measures 
were  employed. 

The  hypnotic  suggestions  were  as  follows: 

1.  I  abhor  onanism,  because  it  makes  me  weak  and 
miserable. 

2.  I  no  longer  have  inclination  toward  men;  for  love 
for  men  is  against  religion,  nature  and  law. 

3.  I  feel  an  inclination  toward  woman;  for  woman  is 
lovely  and  desirable,  and  created  for  man. 

During  the  sittings  the  patient  always  repeated  ver- 
batim these  suggestions.  After  the  fourth  sitting  it  was 
noticeable,  that,  when  taken  into  society,  he  paid  court  to 
ladies.  Shortly  after  that,  when  a  famous  prima-donna 
sang,  he  was  all  enthusiasm  for  her.  Some  days  later  the 
patient  sought  the  address  of  a  brothel. 


458 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Yet  he  preferred  the  society  of  young  gentlemen;  but 
the  most  careful  watching  failed  to  reveal  anything  sus- 
picious. 

I7th  February.  Patient  asked  to  be  allowed  to  in- 
dulge in  coitus,  and  was  very  well  satisfied  with  his  expe- 
rience with  one  of  the  demi-mondes. 

16th  March.  Up  to  this  time,  hypnosis  twice  a  week. 
The  patient  always  passed  into  deep  somnambulism  by 
simply  being  looked  at,  and,  at  request,  repeated  the  sug- 
gestions. He  was  susceptible  to  all  kinds  of  post-hypnotic 
suggestion,  and,  in  the  waking  state,  knew  not  the  least 
of  the  influences  exerted  on  him  in  the  hypnotic  state. 
In  the  hypnotic  condition  he  always  gave  the  assurance 
that  he  was  free  from  onanism  and  sexual  feeling  for  men. 
Since  he  gave  the  same  answers  in  hypnosis — e.g.,,  that  on 
such  and  such  a  date  he  practised  onanism  for  the  last 
time,  and  that  he  was  too  much  under  the  will  of  the 
physician  to  be  able  to  lie — his  assertions  deserved  belief; 
the  more,  since  he  looked  well  and  was  free  from  all  neu- 
rasthenic symptoms,  and,  in  the  society  of  men,  not  the 
slightest  suspicion  rested  on  him.  An  open,  free,  and 
manly  bearing  was  developed. 

Moreover,  since,  of  his  own  will,  he  now  and  then  in- 
dulged in  coitus  with  pleasure,  and  occasional  pollutions 
were  induced  by  lascivious  dreams  which  concerned 
women,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  favourable  change 
of  his  vita  sexualis;  and  it  was  presumable  that  the  hyp- 
notic suggestions  had  developed  into  auto-suggestive  in- 
clinations, which  directed  his  feelings,  thoughts  and  will. 
Probably  the  patient  will  always  remain  a  natura  frigida; 
but  he  more  often  spoke  of  marriage,  and  of  his  intention 
to  win  a  wife  as  soon  as  he  had  become  acquainted  with  a 
sympathetic  lady.  Treatment  was  stopped.  (Author's  own 
case,  ^^Internat.  Centralbl.  fiir  die  Physiol,  und  Pathol, 
der  Harn-  und  Sexualorgane''  Band  i.) 

In  July,  1889,  I  received  a  letter  from  his  father,  tell- 
ing me  of  his  son's  good  health  and  conduct. 

On  24th  May,  1890,  by  chance,  I  met  my  former 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  INSTINCT. 


459 


patient,  while  on  a  journey.  His  bright,  healthful  appear- 
ance allowed  the  most  favourable  opinion  of  his  condition^ 
He  told  me  that  he  still  had  sympathetic  feeling  for  some 
men,  but  never  anything  like  love.  He  occasionally  had 
pleasurable  coitus  with  women,  and  now  thought  of  mar- 
riage. 

I  hypnotised  him,  in  the  former  manner,  to  try  him, 
and  asked  for  the  commands  I  had  given  him.  In  a  deep 
condition  of  somnambulism,  and  in  the  same  tone  of  voice 
as  formerly,  the  patient  repeated  the  suggestions  he  had 
received  in  December,  1888^ — an  excellent  example  of  the 
possible  duration  and  power  of  post-hypnotic  suggestion. 

Other  cases  may  be  found  in  the  eighth  edition,  cases 
137,  138,  140,  141 ;  and  ninth  edition,  case  133,  of  this 
book. 

The  cases  quoted  by  the  author,  as  well  as  those  given 
by  Ladame,  in  which  suggestion  removed  the  homosexual 
instinct,  or,  at  least,  neutralised  it  (as  a  protection  from 
shame  and  law),  seem  to  afford  a  proof  that  even  the 
gravest  cases  of  congenital  sexual  inversion  may  be  bene- 
fited by  the  application  of  hypnotism. 

Wetterstrand  (cf,  Schrench,  op,  cit,,  case  49)  Bern- 
heim  (cf.  Schrenck^  case  51),  Miiller  {cf.  SchrencJc,  case 
53),  Schrench  (op.  cit,,  cases  66,  67),  report  even  complete 
success  in  displacing  the  homosexual  by  the  heterosexual 
instinct  coupled  wdth  virility.  Schrench  (op.  cit.,  cases 
62,  63)  succeeded  also  in  cases  of  effeminatio. 

But  only  when  hypnotism  produces  deep  somnambu- 
lism, decided  and  lasting  results  may  be  hoped  for,  which, 
after  all,  are  nothing  more  than  suggestive  training,  not 
a  real  cure.  They  are  marvellous  ''artefacta'  of  hypnotic 
science  practised  on  abnormal  human  beings,  but  by  no 
means  ^Hr  arts  formations''  (cf.  Schrench)  of  a  psychosexual 
existence. 

Very  instructive  in  this  respect  is  a  case  related  by 
Schrenck,  the  representative  of  which  after  effected  "cure" 
says  of  himself:  "I  am  ever  conscious  of  a  certain  insu- 


460 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


perable  coercion  wiiich  does  not  rest  upon  moral  principles, 
but  must,  as  I  believe,  be  referable  directly  to  treatment". 
At  any  rate  such  ^^cures''  afford  no  proof  whatsoever 
against  the  assumption  of  original  conditionality  of  sexual 
inversion. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  warn  the  reader  against  illusions 
about  the  true  value  of  hypnotic  therapy. 

Attempts  have  been  repeatedly  made  to  question  the 
right  of  the  medical  adviser  to  treat  cases  of  antipathic 
sexuality.  The  advice  given  to  the  unfortunates  so  af- 
flicted was  to  become  reconciled  with  their  anomaly  and 
to  eschew  homosexual  intercourse.  In  some  cases  in  which 
the  libido  was  weak  or  the  sense  of  morality  was  not  en- 
tirely blunted,  success  has  been  achieved.  It  was  pointed 
out  to  these  unfortunate  beings  that  there  are  many  other 
dreadful  afflictions,  such  as  trigeminus  neuralgia  or  malign 
tumours,  which  man  must  bear  with  resignation.  This 
view  involves,  however,  a  defective  knowledge  of  the 
meaning  and  bearing  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  in  so 
far  as  this  afSiction  means  nothing  more  or  less  than  a 
hopeless  existence,  a  life  without  love,  an  undignified 
comedy  before  human  society,  and  moral  and  psychical 
marasmus  if  the  advice  is  adopted;  on  the  other  hand, 
eventual  loss  of  social  position,  civic  honour  and  liberty 
are  involved. 

Castration  is  out  of  the  question,  because  it  is  difficult 
to  justify  such  an  operation,  for  the  antipathic  sexual  in- 
stinct with  its  psychical  tortures,  cannot  be  extirpated  by 
this  process  even  though  the  libido  sexualis  be  diminished. 

To  confine  such  people  in  an  insane  asylum  is  a  mon- 
strous idea.  Justification  for  it  can  only  then  exist  if  the 
perverse  individual  suffers  also  from  a  psychosis  which 
renders  confinement  imperative. 

Another  objection  which  has  been  made  against  treat- 
ment is  that  the  weal  and  welfare  of  society  is  jeopardized 
in  so  far  as  an  opportunity  is  given  to  tainted  individuals 
to  propagate  their  perversions. 

This  objection  appears  comical  in  the  face  of  the  fact 


ANTIPATHIC  SEXUAL  mSTI]SrCT. 


461 


that  no  one  has  yet  thought  of  prohibiting  the  marriage 
of  the  congenital  libertine  or  habitual  drunkard.  My  ex- 
perience teaches  me  that  the  sexual  perverts  in  general 
by  no  means  constitute  the  worst  type  of  degeneration. 
The  progeny  of  individuals  thus  tainted,  which  I  have  had 
occasion  to  observe,  has  offered  no  pronounced  manifesta- 
tions of  neuropathic  constitution  or  taint. 

Psychopathia  sexualis  is  not  often  met  with  as  a  family 
failing  or  a  mark  of  heredity. 

The  number  of  cases  which  have  been  really  cured  of 
this  anomaly  will  always  be  limited,  because  many  of  these 
unfortunates  refrain  from  taking  into  their  confidence  even 
the  medical  man.  Others  despair  beforehand  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  treatment,  whilst  some  who  practise  homosexual 
intercourse  and  find  satisfaction  in  it,  hesitate  to  exchange 
their  method  for  something  uncertain.  Again  others  de- 
mur for  fear  of  becoming  potent,  and  thus  transmitting 
their  own  weakness  to  the  offspring.  Others  present  psy- 
chical impediments  which  seem  insurmountable,  or  they 
do  not  react  to  hypnotic  influence  or  suggestion,  thus  ren- 
dering treatment  futile. 

If  an  individual  afflicted  with,  antipathic  sexual  in- 
stinct, for  ethical,  social  or  any  other  reasons,  demands 
treatment,  surely  it  cannot  be  denied  him.  It  is  the  sacred 
duty  of  every  medical  man  to  give  advice  and  aid  to  the 
best  of  his  ability  and  knowledge  whenever  it  is  asked  for. 
The  health  and  welfare  of  the  patient  must  ever  be  para- 
mount to  that  of  society  at  large.  Hygiene  and  prophy- 
laxis enable  him  at  all  times  to  recompense  the  community 
for  any  damage  he  may  have  done  in  an  isolated  case. 

Moreover  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  patient  is  quite 
satisfied  when  he  becomes  sexually  neutral,  and  under 
these  circumstances  medical  skill  has  rendered  a  signal  ser- 
vice to  both  society  and  the  individual  himself. 


IV.— SPECIAL  PATHOLOGY. 


the  manifestations  of  abnormal  sexual  life  in  the 
various  forms  and  states  of  mental 
disturbance. 

Arrest  of  Mental  Development. 

Sexual  life  in  idiots  is,  generally  speaking,  but  slightly 
developed.  It  is  wanting  entirely  in  idiots  of  high  grade. 
In  such  instances  the  genitals  are  frequently  small  and 
deformed,  and  menstruation  is  late  or  does  not  occur  at 
all.  There  is  either  impotence  or  sterility.  Even  in 
idiots  of  low  grade,  sexuality  is  not  prominent.  In  rare 
cases  it  is  manifested  with  a  certain  periodicity,  and  then 
with  greater  intensity.  It  may  then  find  expression  in 
sudden  impulses,  and  be  violently  satisfied.  Perversions 
of  the  sexual  instinct  do  not  seem  to  occur  at  the  lowest 
levels  of  mental  development. 

When  the  desire  for  sexual  satisfaction  is  opposed  in 
these  cases,  great  passion  is  excited,  with  danger  of  mur- 
derous assault  on  the  persons  attacked.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  idiots  should  not  exercise  choice,  and  even 
attempt  to  satisfy  the  sexual  instinct  on  their  nearest 
relatives. 

Thus  Marc-Ideler  reports  the  case  of  an  idiot  who 
attempted  to  rape  his  sister,  and  had  almost  strangled 
her  when  he  was  discovered. 

Friedreich  reports  an  analogous  case  (^'Friedreich's 
Blatter,"  1858,  p.  50). 

I  have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  give  opinions  in 
cases  of  attempts  to  rape  little  girls. 

462- 


ABREST  OF  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT.  463 

Giraud  ("Annal.  med.  psych./'  1885,  Wo.  7)  also  re- 
ports a  case  of  this  kind.  Consciousness  of  the  significance 
of  the  act  is  always  wanting;  but  an  instinctive  know- 
ledge that  such  obscene  acts  are  not  publicly  permitted 
is  often  present,  and  causes  the  act  to  be  undertaken  in 
a  deserted  place. 

In  imbeciles  the  sexual  instinct  is  usually  developed 
as  in  normal  individuals.  The  moral  inhibitory  ideas  are 
cloudy,  and,  therefore,  the  sexual  impulse  is  more  or  less 
openly  manifested.  For  this  reason  imbeciles  are  sources 
of  disturbance  in  society.  Abnormal  intensity  and  per- 
version of  the  sexual  instinct  are  infrequent. 

The  most  frequent  manner  of  satisfying  the  sexual 
desire  is  onanism.  The  weak-minded  seldom  make  sexual 
attacks  on  adults  of  the  opposite  sex. 

Sexual  satisfaction  with  animals  is  frequently  at- 
tempted. The  great  majority  of  cases  of  injury  (sexual) 
to  animals  must  be  attributed  to  imbeciles.  Children  are 
quite  often  their  victims. 

Emminghaus  (''MaschJcas  Handb.,''  iv.,  p.  234)  draws 
attention  to  the  frequency  of  unrestricted  manifestation 
of  sexual  instinct,  which  comprises  open  masturbation, 
exhibition  of  the  genitals,  attacks  on  children  and  those 
of  the  same  sex,  and  sodomy. 

Giraud  ("Annal.  med.  psychol.,"  1855,  No.  1)  has 
reported  a  whole  series  of  immoral  attacks  on  children^ : — 

1.  H.,  aged  seventeen,  imbecile,  enticed  a  little  girl  into 
a  barn,  by  giving  her  nuts.  There  he  exposed  her  genitals 
and  showed  his  own,  making  movements  of  coitus  on 
the  child's  abdomen.  He  had  no  idea  of  the  moral  sig- 
nificance of  the  act. 

2.  L.,  aged  twenty-one;  imbecile;  degenerate.  While 

*  For  numerous  cases,  "v,  EenWs  Zeitsehr.,"  xxiii.,  "ErgHnzungs- 
heft,"  p.  147;  Comles,  "  Annal.  mM.  psychol.,"  1866;  Lim<m, 
"  Zweifelh.  Geisteszustande,"  p.  389 ;  Casper-Liman,  "  Lehrb.,  7, 
Auflage,"  Fall  295;  Bartels,  ''Friedreich's  Blatter  f.  gerichtl.  Med.," 
1890,  Heft  1. 


464 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtTALlS* . 


he  was  watching  cattle,  his  sister  of  eleven  years,  with  a 
playmate  of  eight  years,  came  and  told  him  how  some 
unknown  man  had  attempted  to  do  them  violence.  L. 
led  the  children  to  a  deserted  house  and  attempted  coitus 
with  the  younger  child,  but  let  her  go  because  immission 
was  unsuccessful,  and  because  the  child  cried  out.  On 
the  way  home  he  promised  to  marry  her  if  she  would 
not  say  anything.  At  the  trial  he  thought  that  by  marriage 
he  could  right  the  wrong  he  had  done. 

3.  G.,  aged  twenty-one,  microcephalic,  imbecile,  had 
masturbated  since  his  sixth  year,  and  practised  active 
and  passive  pederasty.  He  had  repeatedly  tried  to  per- 
form pederasty  with  boys,  and  attacked  little  girls.  He 
was  absolutely  without  an  understanding  of  his  acts. 
His  sexual  desires  were  manifested  periodically  and  in- 
tensely, as  in  animals.^ 

4.  B.,  aged  twenty-one;  imbecile.  While  alone  in  a 
forest  with  his  sister  of  nineteen,  he  demanded  that  she 
allow  coitus.  She  refused.  He  threatened  to  strangle 
her,  and  stabbed  her  with  a  knife.  The  frightened  girl 
wrenched  his  penis,  and  he  then  left  her  and  quietly 
went  on  with  his  work.  B.  had  a  deformed,  microcephalic 
skull,  and  had  no  sense  of  the  significance  of  his  act. 

EmmingJiaus  (op.  cit,,  p.  234)  reports  the  case  of  an 
exhibitionist : — 

Case  171.  A  man,  aged  forty,  married,  had  for  six- 
teen years  been  accustomed  to  exhibit  himself  in  parks,  at 
dusk,  to  little  girls  and  servants,  and  drew  their  atten- 
tion to  himself  by  whistling.  After  having  been  frequently 
punished  for  it,  he  avoided  the  places,  but  he  carried  on 
his  practice  elsewhere.  Hydrocephalus.  Mental  weakness 
of  slight  degree.   Mild  sentence  passed. 

Case  172.  X.,  of  tainted  family;  imbecile;  defective 

*  Other  cases  of  pederasty,  v.  Casper,  "  Klin.  Novellen,"  Fall  5 ; 
Comhes,  "  Annal.  m^d.  psychol.,"  July,  1866, 


ARREST  OF  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT.  465 

and  perverted  in  intellect,  feeling  and  will.  For  help 
and  protection  he  was  brought  before  an  officer.  It  was 
complained  that  he  had  repeatedly  exposed  his  genitals 
to  servant-girls,  and  had  shown  himself  at  windows  with 
the  npper  portion  of  his  body  naked.  'No  other  mani- 
festations of  inverted  sexual  instinct.  No  onanism  re- 
ported (Sander J  "Archiv  f.  Psych./'  p.  655). 

Case  173.  Pederasty  with  a  child.  On  8th  April, 
1884,  at  ten  o'clock,  a.  m.^  while  X.  was  sitting  in  the 
street,  holding  a  boy  of  eighteen  months  on  her  lap,  a  cer- 
tain Vallario  approached  and  took  the  child  from  X.,  say- 
ing he  was  going  to  take  it  for  a  walk.  He  went  the 
distance  of  half  a  kilometre,  and  returned,  saying  that  the 
child  had  fallen  from  his  arms,  and  thus  injured  its  anus. 
The  anus  was  torn,  and  blood  was  pouring  from  it.  At  the 
place  where  the  deed  was  done,  traces  of  semen  were 
found.  V.  confessed  his  horrible  crime,  and,  at  his  final 
trial,  he  acted  so  strangely  that  an  examination  of  his 
mental  condition  was  made.  He  had  impressed  the 
prison  attendants  as  being  an  imbecile.  V.,  aged  forty- 
five,  mason,  defective  morally  and  intellectually,  dolicho- 
microcephalic ;  narrow,  deformed  facial  bones;  the  halves 
of  the  face  and  the  ears  asymmetrical;  brow  low  and  re- 
treating; genitals  normal.  V.  showed  general  diminution 
of  cutaneous  sensibility,  was  imbecile,  and  had  no  ideas. 
He  lived  in  the  present,  had  no  ambition,  and  did  nothing 
of  his  own  will.  He  had  no  desires  and  no  emotional  feel- 
ing. He  had  never  had  coitus.  Nothing  more  could  be 
ascertained  about  his  vita  sexualis.  Proofs  of  intellectual 
and  moral  idiocy,  due  to  microcephaly;  the  crime  was 
ascribed  to  a  perverse,  uncontrollable  sexual  impulse.  Sent 
to  an  asylum  {Virgilio^  ''Ji  Manicomio,''  v:  year,  No.  3). 

A  case  mentioned  by  L.  Meyer  (^^Arch.  f.  Psych.,''  Bd, 
i.,  p.  103)  shows  how  female  imbeciles  may  indulge  in 
shameless  prostitution  and  immorality.^ 

*F.  Sander,  "  Vierteljahrssclir.  f.  ger.  Med./'  xviii.,  p.  31; 
Casper,  "Klin.  Novellen/'  FaH  27. 

30 


466 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


States  of  Acquired  Mental  Weakness. 

The  numerous  anomalies  of  the  vita  sexualis  in  senile 
dementia  have  been  described  in  the  section  on  ^^General 
Pathology'^  In  other  conditions  of  acquired  mental 
weakness — those  due  to  apoplexy;  trauma  capitis;  to  the 
secondary  stages  of  psychoses;  or  to  inflammatory  pro- 
cesses in  the  cortex  (lues,  paretic  dementia), — perversions 
of  the  sexual  instinct  seem  to  be  infrequent;  and  here 
the  immoral  sexual  acts  seem  to  depend  on  abnormally 
increased  or  uninhibited  sexual  feeling,  which,  in  itself, 
is  not  abnormal. 

1.  Dementia  Consecutive  to  Psychoses. 

Casper  (^^Klin.  Novellen,''  Fall  31)  reports  a  case  that 
belongs  here.  It  is  that  of  a  physician,  aged  thirty-three, 
who  attempted  rape  on  a  child.  He  was  weakened 
mentally,  as  a  result  of  hypochondriacal  melancholia. 
He  excused  his  deed  in  a  very  silly  way,  and  had  na 
appreciation  of  the  moral  and  criminal  meaning  of  the 
act,  which  was  apparently  the  result  of  a  sexual  impulse 
that  could  not  be  controlled  on  account  of  his  mental 
weakness. 

Case  21,  in  Limaris,  ^'Zweifelhafte  Geisteszustande,^^ 
is  an  analogous  case  (dementiar  after  melancholia;  offence 
against  morals  by  exhibition). 

2.  Dementia  After  Apoplexy. 

Case  174.  B.,  aged  fifty-two.  He  passed  through  a 
cerebral  attack,  and  was  no  longer  able  to  carry  on  his 
business  as  a  merchant. 

One  day,  in  the  absence  of  his  wife,  he  locked  two 
girls  in  the  house,  gave  them  liquors  to  drink,  and  then 
carried  out  sexual  acts  with  the  children.  He  commanded 
them  to  say  nothing,  and  went  to  his  business.  The 
medical  expert  established  mental  weakness,  resulting 


STATES  OF  ACQUIEED  MENTAL  WEAKNESS.  467 

from  repeated  apoplexies.  B.,  who,  up  to  this  time, 
had  been  well-behaved,  says  he  committed  the  criminal 
act  because  of  an  uncontrollable  and  incomprehensible 
impulse;  and  that,  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  was 
ashamed,  and  sent  the  girls  away.  Since  his  apoplectic 
attack,  B.  had  been  weak-minded,  incapable  of  business, 
and  hemiplegic;  but,  soon  after  arrest,  he  made  an  un- 
skilful attempt  at  suicide.  He  often  cried  childishly. 
His  moral  and  intellectual  energy  in  opposing  his  sexual 
impulses  was  certainly  much  weakened.  'No  sentence 
(Giraud,  ''Ann.  med.  Psychol.,''  March,  1881). 

3.  Dementia  After  Apoplexy  of  Head. 

Case  175.  K.,  when  fourteen  years  old,  was  injured 
on  the  head  by  a  horse.  The  skull  was  fractured  in 
several  places,  and  several  pieces  of  bone  required  removal. 

From  that  time  K.  was  weak  mentally,  irascible,  and 
ill-tempered.  Gradually  he  developed  an  inordinate  and 
truly  beastly  sensuality,  which  drove  him  to  the  most 
immoral  acts.  One  day  he  raped  a  girl  of  twelve,  and 
strangled  her  for  fear  of  discovery.  Arrested,  he  confessed. 
The  medical  experts  declared  him  responsible,  and  he 
was  executed. 

The  autopsy  revealed  ossification  of  almost  all  the 
sutures,  remarkable  asymmetry  of  the  halves  of  the  skull, 
and  evidences  of  healed  fractures.  The  affected  hemi- 
sphere had  bands  of  cicatricial  tissue  running  through 
it,  and  was  one-third  smaller  than  the  other  (Friedreich's 
'^Blatter,"  1885,  Heft  6). 

4.  Acquired  Mental  Weakness,  Probably  Resulting 
from  Lues. 

Case  176.  X.,  officer,  had  repeatedly  committed 
immoral  acts  with  little  girls;  among  other  things,  he 
had  induced  them  to  perform  manustupration  on  him, 
had  exposed  his  genitals,  and  handled  theirs. 


468 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


X.,  formerly  healthy,  and  of  blameless  life,  was  in- 
fected with  syphilis  in  1867.  In  1879  paralysis  of  the 
left  abducens  occurred.  Thereafter  mental  weakness  was 
noticed,  with  a  change  of  his  disposition  and  character. 
Headache,  occasional  incoherence  of  speech,  failure  of 
power  of  thought  and  logic,  occasional  inequality  of  pupils, 
and  paresis  of  the  right  facial  muscles,  were  observed. 

X.,  aged  thirty-seven,  showed  no  trace  of  lues  when 
examined.  The  paralysis  of  the  left  abducens  was  still 
present.  The  left  eye  was  amblyopic.  He  was  mentally 
weak.  Concerning  the  trial  that  was  before  him,  he  said 
it  was  nothing  but  a  harmless  misunderstanding.  Indi- 
cations of  aphasia.  Weakness  of  memory,  particularly 
for  recent  events.  Superficial  emotional  reaction;  rapid 
exhaustion  of  memory  and  ability  to  speak.  Proved: 
that  the  ethical  defect  and  the  perverse  sexual  impulse 
are  the  symptoms  of  an  abnormal  condition  of  brain 
induced  by  lues. 

Suspension  of  criminal  proceedings  (personal  case, 
"Jahrbiicher  fiir  Psychiatric"). 

5.  Paretic  Dementia. 

Here  the  sexual  life  is  usually  abnormally  affected ;  in 
the  incipient  stages  of  the  disease,  as  well  as  in  episodical 
states  of  excitement,  it  is  intensified,  and  sometimes  per- 
verse. In  the  final  stages  libido  and  sexual  power  usually 
become  nil. 

Just  as  in  the  prodromal  stage  of  the  senile  forms,  one 
sees  here,  in  connection  with  more  or  less  evident  losses 
in  the  moral  and  intellectual  spheres,  expressions  of  an 
apparently  intensified  sexual  instinct  (obscene  talk,  las- 
civiousness  in  intercourse  with  the  opposite  sex,  thoughts 
of  marriage,  frequenting  of  brothels,  etc.),  which  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  clouding  of  consciousness. 

Seduction,  abduction  and  public  scandal  are  here  the 
order  of  the  day.  At  first  there  is  still  some  appreciation 
of  the  circumstances,  though  the  cynicism  of  the  acts  isf 


EPILEPSY. 


469 


striking  enough.  As  the  mental  weakness  increases,  such 
patients  become  criminal  by  reason  of  exhibition,  mastur- 
bation in  the  streets  and  attempts  at  immoral  acts  with 
children. 

If  conditions  of  mental  excitement  come  on,  attempts 
at  rape  are  committed,  or  at  least,  grossly  immoral  acts, — 
the  patient  attacks  women  on  the  street,  appears  in  public 
in  very  imperfect  dress ;  or,  half -clothed,  tries  to  force  his 
way  into  strange  houses,  to  cohabit  with  the  wife  of  an 
acquaintance,  or  to  marry  the  daughter  on  the  spot. 

Numerous  cases  belonging  to  this  category  are  cited 
by  Tardieu  ('^Attentats  aux  moeurs")  ;  Mendel  (^Progres- 
sive Paralyse  der  Irren,''  1880,  p.  123)  ;  Westphal  ("Arch, 
f.  Psych.,  vii.,  p.  622)  ;  and  a  case  by  Petrucci  ("Annal. 
med.  Psychol.,'^  1875)  shows  that  bigamy  may  also  occur 
here. 

The  brutal  disregard  of  consequences  with  which  the 
patients  in  the  advanced  stages  attempt  to  satisfy  their 
sexual  needs  is  characteristic. 

In  a  case  reported  by  Legrand  ("La  folie,''  p.  519),  the 
father  of  a  family  was  found  masturbating  in  the  open 
street.    After  the  act  he  consumed  his  semen. 

A  patient  seen  by  me,  an  officer,  of  a  prominent  family, 
in  broad  daylight,  made  attacks  on  little  girls  at  a  water- 
ing-place. 

A  similar  case  is  reported  by  Dr.  Regis  ("De  la 
dynamic  ou  exaltation  fonctionnelle  au  debut  de  la  paral. 
gen.,''  1878). 

Cases  reported  by  Tarnowsky  (op.  cit,^  p.  82)  show  that 
also  pederasty  and  bestiality  may  occur  in  the  prodromal 
stages  and  course  of  this  malady. 

Epilepsy. 

Epilepsy  is  allied  to  the  acquired  states  of  mental 
weakness  because  it  often  leads  to  them,  and  then  all  the 
possibilities  of  reckless  satisfaction  of  the  sexual  impulse 
that  have  been  mentioned  may  occur.     Moreover,  in 


470 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


many  epileptics  the  sexual  instinct  is  very  intense.  For 
the  most  part  it  is  satisfied  by  masturbation,  now  and 
then  by  attacks  on  children,  and  by  pederasty.  Perver- 
sion of  the  instinct  with  perverse  sexual  acts  seems  to  be 
infrequent. 

Much  more  important  are  the  numerous  cases  in 
literature  in  which  epileptics,  who,  during  intervals, 
present  no  signs  of  active  sexual  impulse,  but  manifest  it 
in  connection  with  epileptic  attacks,  or  during  the  time 
of  equivalent  or  post-epileptic  exceptional  mental  states. 
These  cases  have  scarcely  yet  been  studied  clinically,  and 
forensically  not  at  all;  but  they  deserve  careful  study. 
In  this  way  certain  cases  of  violence  and  rape  would  be 
understood,  and  legal  murders  prevented. 

From  the  following  facts  it  will  certainly  be  clear  that 
the  cerebral  changes  which  accompany  the  epileptic  out- 
break may  induce  an  abnormal  excitation  of  the  sexual 
instinct.^  Besides,  in  the  exceptional  mental  states  of 
epileptics,  they  are  unable  to  resist  their  impulses,  by 
reason  of  the  disturbance  of  consciousness. 

For  years  I  have  known  a  young  epileptic,  of  bad 
heredity,  who,  always  after  frequent  epileptic  seizures, 
attacks  his  mother  and  tries  to  violate  her.  After  a  time 
he  comes  to  himself,  and  has  no  recollection  of  his  acts. 
In  the  intervals  he  is  very  strict  in  morals,  and  has  but 
slight  sexual  inclination. 

Some  years  ago  I  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
peasant,  who,  during  epileptic  attacks,  masturbated  shame- 
lessly, but  during  the  intervals  was  above  reproach. 

Simon  (^^Crimes  et  delits,''  p.  220)  mentions  an  epilep- 
tic girl  of  twenty-three,  well  educated,  and  of  the  best 
morals,  who,  in  attacks  of  vertigo,  would  shout  out  ob- 

^  Arndt  (**Lelirb.  d.  Psych,"  p.  410)  especiaUy  emphasises  the 
passionate  element  in  epileptics :  "  I  have  known  epileptics  who 
behaved  in  a  most  sensual  way  toward  their  mothers,  and  others  who 
were  suspected  by  their  fathers  of  sexual  intercourse  with  the 
mothers.*'  But  when  Arndt  declares  that,  wherever  there  is  a 
peculiarity  of  the  sexual  life,  thought  of  an  epileptic  element  should 
come  into  consideration,  he  is  in  error. 


EPILEPSY. 


471 


scene  words,  then  raise  her  dress,  make  lascivious  move- 
ments, and  try  to  tear  open  her  undergarments. 

Kiernan  (^^Alienist  and  Neurologist,"  January,  1884) 
reports  the  case  of  an  epileptic  who  always  had,  as  an 
aura,  the  vision  of  a  beautiful  woman  in  lascivious  atti- 
tudes, which  induced  ejaculation.  After  some  years,  with 
treatment  with  potassium  bromide,  the  vision  was  changed 
to  that  of  a  devil  attacking  him  with  a  pitchfork.  The 
instant  this  reached  him,  he  became  unconscious. 

The  same  author  speaks  of  a  very  respectable  man 
who  had,  two  or  three  times  a  year,  epileptic  attacks  of 
furor  and  dysthymia,  with  impulses  to  pederasty,  which 
lasted  a  week  or  two ;  and  of  a  lady  who,  with  epilepsy  that 
came  on  during  the  climacterium^  had  sexual  desire  for 
boys. 

Case  177.  W.,  of  good  heredity,  previously  healthy ; 
before  and  after  the  attack,  sound  mentally,  quiet,  kind, 
temperate.  On  13th  April,  1877,  he  had  no  appetite.  On 
the  14th,  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  children,  he  de- 
manded coitus,  first  of  his  wife's  friend,  who  was  present, 
then  of  his  wife.  Taken  away,  he  had  an  epileptoid  attack ; 
after  this  he  became  wildly  maniacal  and  destructive, 
threw  hot  water  on  those  that  tried  to  approach  him,  and 
threw  a  child  in  the  stove.  Then  he  soon  became  quiet, 
but  for  some  days  remained  confused,  and  finally  came 
to  himself  with  no  recollection  of  the  events  of  his  attack 
{Kowalewsky,  "Jahrbiicher  f.  Psych.,"  1879). 

Another  case,  examined  by  Caspar  (^^Klin.  Novellen," 
p.  267),  may  be  attributed  to  epilepsy  (latent).  A  respect- 
able man  attacked  four  women,  one  after  another,  in  the 
open  street  (one  before  two  witnesses),  and  violated  one 
of  them,  "notwithstanding  that  his  young,  pretty  and 
healthy  wife"  lived  hard  by. 

The  epileptic  significance  of  the  sexual  acts  in  the 
following  cases  is  unequivocal : — 


472 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Case  178.  L.,  an  official,  aged  forty;  a  kind  husband 
and  father.  During  four  years  he  had  offended  public 
morals  twenty-five  times,  for  which  he  had  to  endure 
long  imprisonment. 

In  the  first  seven  complaints  he  was  accused  of  expos- 
ing his  genitals  to  girls  from  eleven  to  thirteen  years 
old,  while  passing  them  on  horseback,  and  calling  their 
attention  by  obscene  words.  While  in  confinement,  he 
had  exposed  his  genitals  at  a  window  which  opened  on 
a  popular  street. 

L.'s  father  was  insane;  his  brother  was  once  met  on 
the  street  wearing  only  a  shirt.  During  his  military 
service  L.  had  had  two  attacks  of  severe  fainting.  Since 
1859  he  had  suffered  with  peculiar  attacks  of  vertigo,  at 
such  times  becoming  weak,  tremulous,  and  deathly  pale; 
it  grew  dark  before  his  eyes,  he  saw  bright  stars,  and  was 
forced  to  get  support  in  order  to  keep  upright.  After 
violent  attacks,  great  weakness,  profuse  sweating. 

Since  1861  he  had  been  very  irritable,  w^hich,  respected 
though  he  was  as  an  official,  caused  him  much  trouble  in 
his  work.  His  wife  noticed  the  change  in  him.  He  had 
days  when  he  would  run  about  the  house  as  if  insane, 
holding  his  head  between  his  hands,  striking  the  wall,  and 
complaining  of  headache.  In  1864  he  fell  to  the  ground 
four  times,  lying  there  stiff,  with  eyes  open.  Confused 
states  of  consciousness  were  also  proved  to  have  occurred. 

L.  declared  that  he  had  not  the  slightest  remem- 
brance of  the  crime  of  which  he  was  accused.  Observa- 
tion showed  further  and  more  violent  attacks  of  epileptic 
vertigo.  L.  was  not  sentenced.  In  1875  paretic  dementia 
developed  with  rapidly  fatal  results  (Westphal,  ^^Arch.  f. 
Psych.,''  vii.,  p.  113). 

Case  179.  A  rich  man  of  twenty-six  had  lived  for 
a  year  with  a  girl  with  whom  he  was  very  much  in  love. 
He  cohabited  but  rarely,  but  was  never  perverse. 

Twice  during  the  year,  after  excessive  indulgence  in 
alcohol,  he  had  had  epileptic  attacks.    One  evening  after 


EPILEPSY. 


dinner,  at  which  he  had  taken  much  wine,  he  hurried  to 

the  house  of  his  mistress,  and  into  her  sleeping-apartment, 
although  the  servant  told  him  she  was  not  at  home. 
From  there  he  hastened  into  a  room  where  a  boy  of 
fourteen  was  sleeping,  and  began  to  violate  him.  At  the 
cry  of  the  child,  whose  prepuce  and  hand  he  had  injured, 
the  servant  hurried  to  them.  He  left  the  boy  and  raped 
the  maid;  after  that  he  went  to  bed  and  slept  twelve 
hours.  When  he  awoke,  he  had  an  indistinct  remem- 
brance of  intoxication  and  coitus.  Thereafter  there  were 
repeated  epileptic  attacks  {Tarnoivsky^  op.  cit.,  p.  52). 

Case  180.  X.,  of  high  social  position,  led  a  dissolute 
life  for  some  time,  and  had  epileptic  attacks.  He  be- 
came engaged.  On  his  w^edding  day,  shortly  before  the 
ceremony,  he  appeared  on  his  brother's  arm  before  the 
assembled  guests.  When  he  came  before  his  bride,  he 
exposed  his  genitals  and  began  to  masturbate.  He  was 
at  once  taken  to  an  expert  in  mental  disease.  On  the 
way  he  constantly  masturbated,  and  for  some  days  was 
actuated  by  this  impulse,  which  gradually  decreased  in 
intensity.  After  this  paroxysm  the  patient  had  only  a 
confused  remembrance  of  the  events,  and  could  give  no 
explanation  of  his  acts  (TarnowsJcy,  op.  cit.,  p.  53). 

Case  181.  Z.,  aged  twenty-seven;  very  bad  heredity; 
epileptic.  He  violated  a  girl  of  eleven,  and  then  killed  her. 
He  lied  about  the  deed.  Absence  of  memory,  i.e.,  mental 
confusion  at  the  time  of  the  crime,  was  not  proved.  Pug- 
liese,  ''Arch,  di  Psich.,"  viii.,  p.  622). 

Case  182.  V.,  aged  sixty;  physician;  violated  chil- 
dren. Sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  two  years.  Dr. 
Marandon  later  on  proved  the  existence  of  epileptoid 
attacks  of  apprehensiveness,  dementia,  erotic  and  hypo- 
chondriacal delusions  and  occasional  attacks  of  fear  (Lacas- 
sagne,  ''Lyon,  med.,''  1887,  No.  51). 


Case  183.    On  4th  August,  1878,  H.,  aged  about 


474 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


fifteen,  was  picking  gooseberries  with  several  little  girls 
and  boys  as  her  companions.  Suddenly  she  threw  L., 
aged  ten,  to  the  ground  and  exposed  her,  and  ordered  A., 
aged  eight,  and  O.,  aged  five,  to  bring  about  conjunctio 
memhrorum  with  the  girl,  and  they  obeyed. 

H.  had  a  good  character.  For  five  years  she  had  been 
subject  to  irritability,  headache,  vertigo  and  epileptic 
attacks.  Her  mental  and  physical  development  had  been 
arrested.  She  had  not  menstruated,  but  she  manifested 
menstrual  molimena.  Her  mother  was  suspected  to  be 
epileptic.  For  three  months  H.,  after  seizures,  had 
frequently  done  strange  things,  and  afterward  had  no 
remembrance  of  them. 

H.  seemed  to  have  been  deflowered.  Mental  defect  was 
not  apparent.  She  said  she  had  no  remembrance  of  the 
act  of  which  she  was  accused.  According  to  her  mother's 
testimony,  she  had  an  epileptic  attack  on  the  morning  of 
4th  August,  and  she  had  been,  on  that  account,  told  by  her 
mother  not  to  leave  the  house  (Purkhauer,  ''Friedreich's 
Blatter  f.  ger.  Med.,"  1879,  H.  5). 

Case  184,  Immoral  acts  of  an  epileptic  in  states  of 
abnormal  unconsciousness. — T.,  revenue  collector;  aged 
fifty-two ;  married.  He  was  charged  of  being  guilty  of  im- 
morality with  boys  for  the  past  seventeen  years,  by  practis- 
ing masturbation  on  them,  and  by  inducing  them  to  carry 
out  the  act  on  himself.  The  accused,  a  respected  officer, 
was  overcome  by  the  terrible  crime  attributed  to  him,  and 
declared  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  deeds  of  which  he 
was  accused.  His  mental  integrity  was  questionable. 
His  family  physician,  who  had  known  him  twenty  years, 
emphasised  his  peculiar,  retiring  disposition  and  his 
mercurial  moods.  His  wife  asserted  that  T.  once  tried 
to  throw  her  in  the  water,  and  that  he  sometimes  had 
outbreaks  in  which  he  tore  off  his  clothing,  and  tried  to 
throw  himself  out  of  window.  T.  knew  nothing  of  these 
\attacks.  Other  witnesses  testified  to  strange  changes  of 
onood  and  peculiarities  of  character.   A  physician  reported 


EPILEPSY. 


'475 


the  observation  of  occasional  attacks  of  vertigo  and  con- 
vulsions in  him. 

T/s  grandfather  was  insane;  his  father  was  affected 
with  chronic  alcoholism,  and  of  late  years  had  had  epilep- 
tiform attacks.  The  father's  brother  was  insane,  and  had 
killed  a  relative  while  in  a  delirious  state.  Another  uncle 
of  T.  had  killed  himself.  Of  T.'s  three  children,  one 
was  weak-minded,  another  cross-eyed,  and  the  third  was 
subject  to  convulsions.  The  accused  asserted  that  he  had 
occasional  attacks  in  which  consciousness  was  so  reduced 
that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  about.  These  attacks 
were  ushered  in  by  an  auro-like  pain  in  the  back  of  his 
neck.  He  was  then  impelled  to  go  out  in  the  air.  He 
did  not  know  where  he  went.  His  wife  had  perfectly 
satisfied  him  sexually.  For  eighteen  years  he  had  had 
chronic  eczema  (actual)  of  the  scrotum,  which  had  often 
caused  him  to  have  extraordinary  sexual  excitement. 
The  opinions  of  the  six  experts  were  contradictory  (sane, 
— attacks  of  latent  epilepsy)  ;  the  jury  disagreed,  and  he 
was  dismissed.  Dr.  Legrand  du  Saulle^  who  was  called  as 
an  expert  witness,  found  that,  until  his  twenty-second 
year,  T.  had  urinated  in  bed  from  ten  to  eighteen  times  a 
year.  After  that  time  the  enuresis  nocturna  had  ceased; 
but,  from  that  time,  states  of  mental  confusion,  lasting 
from  an  hour  to  a  day,  had  occurred  occasionally,  and  they 
left  the  patient  without  any  remembrance  of  them.  Soon 
T.  was  arrested  again  for  public  immorality,  and  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  for  fifteen  months.  In  prison  he  grew 
sick,  and  apparently  much  weaker  mentally.  For  this 
reason  he  was  pardoned,  but  the  mental  weakness  in- 
creased. T.  was  noticed  to  have  repeated  epileptoid  con- 
vulsions (tonic  convulsion  with  tremor  and  loss  of  con- 
sciousnfess)  (Auzouy^  ^^Annal.  med.  psychoL,  1874,  isTov. ; 
Legrand  du  Saulhy  ^^Etude  med.  legale,"  etc.,  p.  99). 

The  following  cases  of  immoral  acts  with  children,  ob- 
served by  the  author  and  reported  in  ^^Friedreich's  Blat- 


4:76 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


ter/'  will  serve  to  conclude  this  group/  so  important  in  its 
legal  bearings.  It  is  the  more  important,  in  that  a  state 
of  unconsciousness  was  established  at  the  time  of  the  act, 
and  because,  for  allied  reasons,  the  facts  related  in  Latin 
show  how  a  complicated  and  refined  act  becomes  possible 
in  such  a  state  of  unconsciousness. 

Case  185.  P.,  aged  forty-nine;  married,  hospital 
beneficiary.  He  was  accused  of  having  committed  the 
following  terrible  acts  with  two  girls, — D.,  aged  ten,  and 
G.,  aged  nine, — whom  he  had  taken  to  his  work-shop  on 
25th  May,  1883. 

D.  testified:  ^^I  was  in  the  meadow  with  G.  and  my 
sister  J.,  aged  three.  P.  called  us  into  his  shop  and 
fastened  the  door.  Tum  nos  exosculabatur,  linguam  in 
OS  meum  demittere  tentabat  faciemque  mihi  lambebal; 
sustulit  me  in  gremium,  bracas  aperuit,  vestes  meas 
sublevavit,  digitis  me  in  genitalibus  titillabat  et  membro 
vulvam  meam  fricabat  ita  ut  humida  fierem.  When  I 
cried,  he  gave  me  twelve  kreuzers,  and  threatened  to  shoot 
me  if  I  exposed  him.  At  last  he  tried  to  persuade  me  to 
come  again  the  next  day." 

G.  testified :  ^^P.  nates  et  genitalia  D .  .  se  exosculatus, 
iisdem  me  conatibus  aggressus  est.  Deinde  filiolum 
quoque  tres  annos  natum  in  manus  acceptum  osculatus 
est  nudatumque  parti  suae  virili  appressit.  Postea  quae 
nobis  essent  nomina  interrogavit  ac  consult,  genitalia 
D.  .86  meis  multo  esse  majora.  Quin  etiam  nos  impulit, 
ut  membrum  suum  intueremur,  manibus  comprehendere- 
mus  et  videremus,  quantopere  id  esset  erectum." 

At  his  examination,  29th  May,  P.  said  he  had  but  an 
indistinct  recollection  of  having  fondled,  caressed  and 
made  presents  to  a  little  girl  a  short,  time  before.  If  he 
had  done  anything  more,  it  must  have  been  in  an  irre- 
sponsible condition.     Besides,  he  had  suffered  for  years 

*  Cf,  also  Liman,  "  Zweif elhafte  Geisteszustande,"  Fall  6 ; 
Las^gue,  "Exhibitionists,  Union  mM./'  1877;  Ball  and  Chamhard, 
"Art.  Somnambulisme "  ("Diet,  des  scienc.  m6d./'  1881). 


EPILEPSY. 


A17 


with  weakness  in  his  head  as  result  of  an  injury.  On 
22nd  June  he  knew  nothing  of  the  events  of  25th  May, 
and  nothing  of  his  examination  on  29th  May.  This 
amnesia  was  shown  also  on  cross-examination. 

P.  came  of  a  family  affected  with  cerebral  disease;  a 
brother  was  epileptic.  P.  was  formerly  a  drinker.  Years 
before  he  had  actually  received  an  injury  to  his  head. 
Since  then,  from  time  to  time,  he  had  attacks  of  mental 
disturbance,  introduced  by  moroseness,  irritability,  ten- 
dency to  alcoholic  excesses,  apprehension,  and  delusions  of 
persecution  sufficient  to  induce  threats  and  deeds  of  vio- 
lence. At  the  same  time  he  would  have  auditory  hyperses- 
thesia,  vertigo,  headache  and  cerebral  congestion, — all  this, 
with  great  mental  confusion  and  amnesia  for  the  whole 
period  of  the  attack,  which  sometimes  lasted  for  weeks. 

During  the  intervals  he  was  subject  to  headache, 
which  started  from  the  seat  of  injury  on  the  head  (a 
small  scar  in  the  skin  over  the  right  temple),  which  was 
painful  on  pressure.  With  exacerbation  of  the  headache 
he  became  very  irritable,  morose  to  an  extent  that  in- 
clined him  to  suicide,  and  mentally  like  one  drunk.  In 
1879,  while  in  such  a  state,  he  made  an  impulsive  attempt 
at  suicide,  of  which  he  afterward  had  no  remembrance. 
Soon  after  this,  being  sent  to  hospital,  he  gave  the  im- 
pression of  being  epileptic,  and  for  a  long  time  was  treated 
with  pot.  bromide.  At  the  end  of  1879  he  was  taken 
to  the  infirmary,  no  actual  epileptic  attack  having  been 
observed. 

During  his  lucid  intervals  he  was  a  virtuous,  indus- 
trious, good-natured  man,  and  had  never  shown  any  sex- 
ual excitement;  and,  until  this  time,  never  sexual  incli- 
nations, even  during  his  mental  confusion.  Moreover, 
until  lately  he  had  lived  with  his  wife.  At  the  time  of 
the  criminal  act  he  had  shown  signs  of  an  approaching 
attack,  and  had  asked  the  physician  to  prescribe  pot. 
bromide. 

P.  asserted  that,  since  the  injury  to  his  head,  he  had 
been  intolerant  of  heat  and  alcohol,  which  immediately 


478 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


brought  on  headache  and  confusion.  The  medical  exami- 
nation proved  the  truth  of  his  assertions  about  mental 
weakness,  irritability  and  poor  sleep. 

If  pressure  were  made  at  the  seat  of  the  trauma,  P. 
became  congested,  irritable,  confused  and  trembled  all 
over;  he  appeared  excited;  consciousness  was  disturbed, 
and  remained  so  for  hours. 

At  times,  when  he  was  free  from  the  sensations  that 
started  from  the  scar,  he  seemed  kind,  free,  willing  and 
open,  though  he  was  mentally  weak  and  cloudy.  P.  was 
not  sentenced  (vide  ''Friedreich's  Blatter'^  for  full  report). 

Periodical  Insanity. 

Just  as  in  cases  of  non-periodical  mania,  an  abnormal 
intensity  or  a  noticeable  prominence  of  the  sexual  sphere 
is  very  often  manifested  in  the  periodical  attacks  (v,  infra, 
^^Mania''). 

The  following  case,  reported  by  Servaes  (^^Arch.  f. 
Psych.''),  shows  that  it  then  may  also  be  perverted: — 

Case  186.  Catherine  W.,  aged  sixteen;  she  had 
not  yet  menstruated;  previously  healthy.  Father  very 
irascible. 

Seven  weeks  before  admission  (3rd  December,  1872), 
melancholic  depression  and  irritability.  27th  JSTovember, 
maniacal  outbreak,  lasting  two  days;  thereafter,  melan- 
cholic.    6th  December,  normal  condition. 

24th  December  (twenty-eight  days  after  the  first 
maniacal  attack),  silent,  shy,  depressed.  27th  December, 
exaltation  (jolly,  laughing,  etc.),  with  violent  love  for  an 
attendant  (female).  31st  December,  suddenly  melan- 
cholic catalepsy,  which  disappeared  after  two  hours.  20th 
January,  1873,  new  attack  like  the  previous  one.  A  simi- 
lar one  on  18th  February,  with  traces  of  menses.  The 
patient  had  no  recollection  whatever  for  what  occurred  in 
the  paroxysms,  and  blushed  scarlet  with  astonishment  and 
shame  when  told  about  them. 


PERIODICAL  INSANITY. 


479 


Thereafter  there  were  abortive  attacks,  which  entirely 
disappeared,  to  give  place  to  the  normal  mental  condition 
in  June. 

In  a  case  reported  by  Goch  (^^Arch.  f.  Psych."  v.), 
which  was  probably  circular  insanity,  in  a  man  of  very 
bad  heredity,  during  the  state  of  exaltation  there  was 
manifestation  of  sexual  feeling  for  men.  In  this  case, 
however,  the  patient  thought  himself  a  girl,  and  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  sexual  inclination  was  induced  by  the 
delusion  or  by  an  antipathic  sexual  instinct. 

In  connection  with  these  cases  of  abnormal  manifesta- 
tion of  the  sexual  instinct  are  those  which,  as  a  symptom 
of  mania,  manifest  an  abnormal  and  frequently  a  perverse 
sexual  instinct  in  an  impulsive  way,  analogous  to  dipso- 
mania, while  in  the  intervals  the  sexual  instinct  is  neither 
intense  nor  perverse. 

Quite  a  genuine  case  of  such  periodical  psychopathia 
sexualis,  connected  with  the  process  of  menstruation,  is 
the  following  reported  by  Anjel  (^^Arch.  f.  Psych."  xv., 
Heft  2)  :— 

Case  187.  A  quiet  lady,  near  the  climacterium. 
Very  bad  heredity.  In  her  youth  attacks  of  petit  mah 
Always  eccentric,  quick-tempered;  very  moral;  childless 
marriage. 

Several  years  ago,  after  a  violent  emotional  disturb- 
ance, a  hystero-epileptic  attack,  with  post-epileptic  insanity 
of  several  weeks'  duration.  Thereafter  there  was  sleep- 
lessness for  several  months.  Following  this,  there  was 
always  menstrual  insomnia,  and  the  impulse  to  embrace 
and  kiss  boys  of  ten,  and  fondle  their  genitals.  During 
this  excitement  there  was  no  desire  for  coitus;  certainly 
not  for  intercourse  with  adults. 

The  patient  often  spoke  openly  of  this  impulse,  and 
asked  to  be  watched,  as  she  was  not  to  be  trusted.  In  the 
intervals  she  anxiously  avoided  all  talk  of  it,  was  very 
modest,  and  in  nowise  passionate  sexually. 


480 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAXIS. 


With  reference  to  the  still  imperfectly  known  cases  of 
periodical  psychopathia  sexualis  of  this  kind  Tarnowsky 
{op,  cit.,  p.  38)  has  made  valuable  contributions,  though 
his  cases  were  not  all  of  a  periodic  nature. 

Tarnowsky  reports  cases  where  married,  cultured  men, 
the  fathers  of  families,  were,  from  time  to  time,  compelled 
to  perform  the  most  terrible  sexual  acts,  while  during  the 
intervals  they  were  sexually  normal,  abhorred  their  parox- 
ysmal sexual  acts,  and  shuddered  before  the  expectation  of 
their  repetition. 

If  a  new  paroxysm  came  on,  the  normal  sexual  instinct 
disappeared;  a  state  of  mental  excitement  arose  with  in- 
somnia, and  thoughts  and  impulses  to  commit  the  perverse 
sexual  acts,  with  anxious  confusion  and  an  increasing  im- 
pulse to  the  abhorred  indulgence.  In  this  state  the  act 
was  a  relief,  because  it  ended  the  condition.  The  analogy 
with  dipsomania  is  complete. 

Tor  other  cases  (of  periodical  pederasty),  vide  Tarnow- 
sky, op.  cit,y  p.  41.  The  case  there  reported,  on  page  46 
belongs  in  the  category  of  epilepsy. 

The  following  case,  reported  by  Anjel  (Arch.  f. 
Psych./'  XV.,  Heft  2),  is  one  of  the  most  typical  of  the 
convulsive-like  occurrence  of  sexual  excitement : — 

Case  188.  A  gentleman  of  high  social  position,  aged 
forty-five ;  generally  respected  and  beloved ;  heredity  good ; 
very  moral;  married  fifteen  years.  Previously  sexually 
normal,  the  father  of  several  healthy  children,  and  living 
in  happy  matrimony.  Eight  years  ago  he  had  a  sudden 
fright.  For  some  weeks  thereafter  he  had  a  feeling  of 
apprehension  of  cardiac  attacks.  Then  came  attacks,  at 
intervals  of  several  months  or  a  year,  of  what  the  patient 
called  his  ^^moral  catarrh".  He  became  sleepless.  After 
three  days,  loss  of  appetite,  increasing  irritability,  strange 
appearance;  fixed  stare,  staring  into  space;  paleness, 
changing  with  redness ;  tremor  of  the  fingers ;  red,  shining 
eyes,  with  peculiar  glassy  expression;  and  violent,  quick 
manner  of  speech.     There  was  a  desire  for  girls  of  from 


MANIA. 


481 


five  to  ten  years,  even  for  his  ov^n  daughters.  He  would 
beg  his  wife  to  guard  the  children.  For  days  at  a  time, 
while  in  this  state,  he  would  shut  himself  in  his  room. 
Previously  he  was  compelled  to  pass  school-girls  on  the 
street,  and  he  found  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  exposing  his 
genitals  before  them,  by  acting  as  if  about  to  urinate. 

Tor  fear  of  exposure,  he  shut  himself  in  his  room, 
morose,  incapable  of  movement,  and  torn  by  feelings  of 
fear.  Consciousness  seemed  to  be  undisturbed.  The  at- 
tacks lasted  from  eight  to  fourteen  days.  The  cause  of 
their  return  was  not  clear.  Improvement  was  sudden; 
there  was  great  desire  for  sleep,  and,  after  this  was  satis- 
fied, he  was  well  again.  In  the  interval  there  was  nothing 
abnormal.  Anjel  assumed  an  epileptic  foundation,  and 
considered  the  attacks  to  be  the  psychical  equivalents  of 
epileptic  convulsions. 

Mania. 

With  the  general  excitation  that  here  exists  in  the  psy- 
chical organ,  the  sexual  sphere  is  likewise  often  implicat- 
ed. In  maniacal  individuals  of  the  female  sex,  this  is  the 
rule.  In  certain  cases,  it  may  be  questionable  whether 
the  instinct,  which,  in  itself,  is  not  intensified,  is  simply 
recklessly  manifested,  or  whether  it  is  present  in  actual 
abnormal  intensity.  For  the  most  part,  the  latter  is  the 
true  assumption — certainly  so  where  sexual  delusions  and 
their  religious  equivalents  are  constantly  expressed.  In 
accordance  with  the  degrees  of  intensity  of  the  disease,  the 
intensified  instinct  is  expressed  in  different  forms. 

In  simple  maniacal  exaltation  in  men,  courting,  frivol- 
ity, and  lasciviousness  in  speech,  and  frequenting  of 
brothels,  are  observed;  in  women,  inclination  for  the  so- 
ciety of  men,  personal  adornment,  perfumes,  talk  of  mar- 
riage and  scandals,  suspicion  of  the  virtue  of  other  women ; 
or  there  is  manifested  the  religious  equivalent — pilgrim- 
ages, missionary  work,  desire  to  become  a  monk  or  the 

31 


482 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtJALIS. 


servant  of  a  priest;  and  in  this  case  there  is  much  talk 
about  innocence  and  virginity. 

At  the  height  of  mania  there  may  be  seen  invitations 
to  coitus,  exhibition,  obscenity,  great  excitation  at  sight 
of  women,  tendency  to  smear  the  person  with  saliva, 
urine,  and  even  faeces;  religio-sexual  delusions, — to  be 
under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  have  given 
birth  to  Christ,  etc. ;  open  onanism  and  pelvic  movements 
of  coitus. 

In  maniacal  men  care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  shame- 
less masturbation  and  sexual  attacks  on  women. 

Nymphomania  and  Satyriasis/ 

The  description  of  these  conditions  is  simply  an  annex 
to  the  attempt  made  on  page  69  to  explain  hypercesthesia 
sexualis,  in  so  far  as  we  take  into  consideration  temporary 
sexual  affects  emanating  therefrom,  no  matter  whether  they 
are  occasioned  by  abstinence  or  are  of  a  permanent  char- 
acter. They  may  become  so  predominant  that  they  com- 
pletely sway  the  field  of  imagination  and  desire,  and  im- 
peratively demand  the  relief  of  the  affect  in  the  correspond- 
ing sexual  act.  In  acute  and  severe  cases,  ethics  and  will- 
power lose  their  controlling  influence  entirely,  while  in 
chronic  and  milder  cases  restraint  is  still  possible  to  a 
certain  degree.  At  the  acme  of  paroxysm  hallucinations, 
delirium  and  benumbed  consciousness  make  their  appear- 
ance, and  often  continue  during  a  prolonged  period. 

^Literature:  Bienville^  Traits  de  la  nympli.,  Amsterdam,  1771; 
Louyer-Villermay,  art.  nymphomanie,  diet,  des  sciences  med.,  xxx., 
p.  563;  Magnet  J  diet,  en  60  vol.  (vol  xxxvi.,  p.  580);  Meyer  Alexis, 
des  rapports  conjugaux,  Paris,  1882,  7  6d. ;  Guihout,  traits  clinique 
des  malad.  des  femmes,  Paris,  1886;  Icard,  la  femme  pendant  la 
p^riode  menstruelle,  1890;  Ma/rc,  die  Geisteskrankheiten,  iibersetzt 
von  Ideler,  ii.,  p.  138;  Ideler,  Grundriss  der  Seelenheilkunde,  ii.,  p. 
488;  Foville,  diet,  de  m^d.  et  de  chirurch.  pratique;  Legrand  du 
Saulle,  la  folie  devant  des  tribun.,  1864;  Ball,  la  folie  ^rotique,  1888; 
Moreau,  aberrations  du  sens  g^n^sique,  1884;  Thoinot,  attentats  aux 
moeurs,  p.  487;  Legrand  du  SauUe,  les  liyst^riques,  1883. 


NYMPHOMANIA  AND  SATYRIASIS. 


483 


Such  cases  have  led  to  the  classification  of  nympho- 
mania as  a  proper  psychical  disease.  But  this  is  an  error, 
for  nymphomania  is  only  a  syndrome  within  the  sphere  of 
psychical  degeneration.  As  such  it  may  manifest  itself 
as  an  acute  paroxysmic  condition,  analogous  to  dipsomania, 
frequently  coinciding  with  menstrual  phases,  recurring 
either  in  stated  periodical  cicles,  or  at  irregular  intervals. 
Or  it  may  be  a  complication  or  combination  of  other  condi- 
tions and  appear  episodically  in  dementia  senilis,  climac- 
teric psychosis,  mania  in  degenerates,  and  delirium  acutum 
(^^acute  deadly  nymphomania"). 

Moreau  (op.  cit,)  reports  an  interesting  case.  A  young 
girl  became  suddenly  a  nymphomaniac  when  forsaken  by 
her  betrothed;  she  revelled  in  cynical  songs  and  expres- 
sions, and  lascivious  attitudes  and  gestures.  She  refused 
to  put  on  her  garments,  had  to  be  held  down  in  bed  by 
muscular  men  (!)  and  furiously  demanded  coitus.  In- 
somnia, congestion  of  the  facial  nerves,  a  dry  tongue,  and 
rapid  pulse.    Within  a  few  days  lethal  collapse. 

Louyer-Villermay  (op.  cit.):  Miss  X.,  aged  thirty; 
modest  and  decent,  was  suddenly  seized  with  an  attack  of 
nymphomania,  unlimited  desire  for  sexual  gratification, 
obscene  delirium.  Death  from  exhaustion  within  a  few 
days.  Cf.  three  other  cases  with  deadly  result  by  Maresch, 
Psychiatr.  Centralblatt,  1871. 

Chronic  Nymphomania  is  more  frequently  met  with, 
but  seems  to  occur  only  in  individuals  psychically  degener- 
ated. It  is  the  result  of  sexual  hypersesthesia  and  exacer- 
bations thereof  reaching  even  to  the  state  of  sexual  affects 
which  manifest  themselves  in  impulsive  acts,  or,  in  milder 
cases,  are  complicated  with  delusions.  These,  however, 
need  not  by  necessity  lead  to  involuntary  acts,  in  as  much 
as  ethical  considerations  may  counterbalance  the  milder 
forms  of  sexual  excitement  and,  moreover,  recourse  to  soli- 
tary masturbation  as  a  means  of  temporary  relief  is  here 
always  possible. 

These  milder  cases  of  nymphomania  claim  our  sym- 
pathy not  less  that  those  unfortunate  women  who  by  irre- 


484 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sistible  impulses  are  forced  to  sacrifice  feminine  honour  and 
dignity,  for  they  are  fully  conscious  of  their  painful  situa- 
tiouj  they  are  a  toy  in  the  grip  of  a  morbid  imagination 
which  revolves  solely  around  sexual  ideas  and  grasps  even 
the  most  distant  points  in  the  sense  of  an  aphrodisiac. 
Even  in  their  sleep  they  are  pursued  by  lascivious  dreams. 
In  the  daytime  the  slightest  cause  will  produce  a  crisis  in 
which  a  veritable  erithismus  cerebralis  sexualis,  coupled 
with  painful  sensations  (pressure,  vibration,  pulsation, 
etc-,)  in  the  genitals  torments  them.  Temporary  relief 
comes  in  time  in  the  shape  of  neurasthenia  genitalis^  which 
reacts  promptly  on  the  centre  of  ejaculation  and  readily 
causes  pollutions  in  lascivious  dreams,  or  some  erotic  crisis 
when  awake.  Full  gratification,  however,  they  cannot  find 
any  more  than  those  of  their  unfortunate  fellow-sufferers 
who  abandon  themselves  to  men.  This  anaphrodisia  ex- 
plains to  a  large  extent  the  persistence  of  the  sexual  affect, 
i.e.^  that  nymphomania  which  heaps  crisis  upon  crisis. 

Neurasthenia  sexualis^  which  inhibits  orgasm  and 
sensual  gratification,  no  doubt,  fully  explains  this  anaphro- 
disia which  restrains  the  beneficent  assuagement  of  sexual 
emotions,  yet  maintaining  an  incessant  craving  (libido  in- 
satiata)y  forces  the  woman,  morally  devoid  of  all  power  of 
resistance,  to  auto-masturbation  or  psychical  onanism,  and 
eventually  as  a  Messalina  to  prostitution  in  which  to  find 
satisfaction  and  relief  with  one  man  after  another. 

This  neurasthenia  is  often  caused  by  an  abnormally 
early  and  powerful  sexual  instinct,  which  prescribes  onan- 
ism; or  it  may  be  reduced  to  enforced  continence  with 
strong  coexisting  sexual  appetite. 

Case  189.  Mrs.  V.,  from  earliest  youth  mania  for 
men.  Of  good  ancestors,  highly  cultured,  good-natured, 
very  modest,  blushed  easily,  but  always  the  terror  of  the 
family.  Quando  quidem  sola  erat  cum  homine  sexus  alte- 
rium,  negligens,  utrum  infans  sit  an  vir,  an  senex,  utrum 
pulcher  an  teter,  statim  corpus  nudavit  et  vehementer 
libidines  suas  satiari  rogavit  vel  vim  vel  manus  ei  injecit. 


NYMPHOMANIA  AND  SATYRIASIS. 


485 


Marriage  was  resorted  to  as  a  cure.  Maritiim  quam  max- 
ime  amavit,  neque  tamen  sibi  temperare  potuit  quin  a 
quolibet  viro,  si  solum  apprehenderat,  sen  verso,  seu  mer- 
cennario,  seu  discipulo  coitum  exposceret. 

JSTotliiiig  could  cure  her  of  this  failing.  Even  when 
she  was  a  grandmother,  she  still  remained  a  Messalina. 
Puerum  quondam  duodecim  annos  natum  in  cubiculum 
allectum  stuprare  voluit.  He  tore  himself  away  and  fled, 
and  his  brother  gave  her  a  severe  punishment.  But  it 
was  all  in  vain.  When  sent  to  a  convent  she  was  a  model 
of  good  conduct  and  committed  not  the  slightest  act  of 
indiscretion.  But  the  moment  she  returned  home,  she 
resumed  her  perverse  practices.  The  family  sent  her  away, 
giving  her  a  small  allowance.  She  worked  hard  to  earn 
the  money  she  needed  for  ^^buying  her  lovers.''  In  look- 
ing at  the  trim,  neat  matron  of  sixty-five  years  of  age,  with 
her  modest  manners  and  a  most  amiable  disposition,  no 
one  could  ever  suspect  how  shamelessly  needy  in  her  sexual 
life  she  was  even  then. 

At  last  she  was  sent  to  an  insane  asylum,  where  she 
lived  till  May,  1858,  when  in  her  seventy-third  year,  she 
succumbed  to  a  stroke  of  cerebral  apoplexy.  Her  beha- 
viour at  the  asylum  when  under  surveillance,  was  beyond 
reproach;  but  if  left  to  herself  she  utilized  every  oppor- 
tunity in  the  same  old  fashion  even  to  within  a  few  days 
before  her  death.  IsTo  other  signs  of  mental  anomaly  could 
be  detected  in  her.    {Trelat,  ^^folie  lucide.") 

Case  190.  Chronic  nymphomania.  Mrs.  E.,  age 
forty-seven.  An  uncle  on  father's  side  insane.  Father 
suffered  from  self-conceit  and  was  given  to  sexual  excess. 
A  brother  of  the  patient  died  from  acute  cerebral  inflam- 
mation. Always  nervous,  eccentric,  erotic,  began  coitus 
at  the  age  of  ten.  Married  at  nineteen.  Although  her 
husband  was  virile,  she  maintained  a  number  of  male 
friends.  Fully  conscious  of  the  abominable  nature  of  her 
conduct,  she  was  powerless  in  restraining  her  insatiable  ap- 
petite.   She  kept  up  appearances,  however.    Later  on  she 


486 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


claimed  that  she  had  suffered  from  a  ^^monomania  for 
men.'' 

She  had  six  confinements.  One  day  she  was  thrown 
from  a  carriage  and  sustained  concussion  of  the  brain. 
This  caused  melancholia  and  paranoia  persecutoria.  With 
approaching  climacterium  the  menses  became  frequent  and 
very  profuse,  but  the  libido  gradually  disappeared.  Slight 
degree  of  descensus  uteri  and  prolapsus  ani. 

Chronic  conditions  of  nymphomania  are  apt  to  weaken 
public  morality  and  lead  to  offences  against  decency.  Woe 
unto  the  man  who  falls  into  the  meshes  of  such  an  insatia- 
ble Messalina,  whose  sexual  appetite  is  never  appeased. 
Heavy  neurasthenia  and  impotence  are  the  inevitable  con- 
sequences. These  unfortunate  women  disseminate  the 
spirit  of  lewdness,  demoralize  their  surroundings,  become 
a  danger  to  boys,  and  are  liable  to  corrupt  girls  also,  for 
there  are  homosexual  nymphomaniacs  as  well.^  By  expos- 
ing their  feminine  charms,  even  by  exhibition,  they  lure 
men.  Nymphomaniacs  endowed  with  the  world's  riches 
purchase  lovers.  In  many  instances  they  resort  to  prosti- 
tution. 

The  conditions  of  Satyriasis  in  men  are  analogous  to 
nymphomania.  It  is  a  central  disturbance,  either  of  an 
acute  character  or  chronic.  In  the  acute  stage  it  may  lead 
to  hallucinations  of  erotic  content,  and  where  compensa- 
tion of  the  sexual  affect  is  rendered  impossible,  to  furious 
mania,  delirium  acutum. 

This  pathological  sexual  affect,  stigmatised  by  abnormal 
intensity  and  duration,  fills  the  whole  psychical  life.  Oc- 
currences of  the  commonest  and  most  indifferent  nature 
are  taken  as  sensual  hints  or  suggestions.  The  lustful 
colouring  of  thoughts,  ideas  or  natural  perceptions  by  the 
senses  is  strongly  exaggerated.  At  the  acme  of  the  crisis 
the  patient  is  in  a  "rut-like"  condition,  in  which  conscious- 
ness is  clouded  and  a  general  physical  excitement,  similar 
to  that  during  coitus   {cf.   p.   40)    pervades  the  whole 

^Thoinot,  attentats  aux  moeurs^  p.  498. 


NYMPHOMANIA  AND  SATYRIASIS. 


'487 


frame.  Ejaculation  may  be  concatenated  with  a  renewed 
phase  of  orgasm  in  which  the  genital  organs  retain  a  per- 
manent turgescence  (priapism).  The  individual  afflicted 
with  satyriasis  is  forever  exposed  to  the  peril  of  commit- 
ting rape,  thus  becoming  a  common  danger  to  all  persons 
of  the  opposite  sex.  Faute  de  mieux  he  resorts  to  mastur- 
bation and  sodomy.  Luckily  satyriasis  is  a  rare  disease. 
It  is  not  due  to  poisoning  with  cantharides,  as  some  claim, 
which  only  produces  priapism,  that  is  to  say,  though  at 
first  causing  erotic  sensations  and  erection,  after  repeated 
doses  it  produces  the  opposite  effect. 

Analogous  with  nymphomania  chronica  mitis  condi- 
tions of  a  mild  satyriasis  exist  in  men,  (chiefly  after  Abusus 
Veneris)  who  suffer  from  neurasthenia  sexualis  ex  mastur- 
batione  and  subsequent  impotence,  yet  are  the  slaves  of 
an  insatiable  libido.  The  imagination — the  same  as  in 
acute  cases — is  highly  excited  and  consciousness  is  com- 
pletely filled  with  obscene  pictures  and  situations.  The 
whole  train  of  thought,  the  entire  realm  of  desire  in  these 
men  is  directed  to  sexual  matters.  Impotence  and  anaphro- 
disia  assisted  by  perverse  fancies  lead  them  to  the  worst 
perversities  possible  in  the  sexual  act  and  render  them 
particularly  dangerous  to  children.  They  give  offence  by 
exhibition,  by  masturbation  and  by  sexual  acts  with  per- 
sons of  the  other  sex  m  public.  They  are  lascivious  in 
speech  and  revel  in  filthy  language,  etc. 

Satyriasis  mitis  is  often  observed  in  the  incipient  stages 
of  dementia  paralitica  and  senilis. 

Case  191.  Satyriasis.  Delir.  acutum  ex  abstinentia. 
On  the  29th  of  May,  1882,  F.,  age  twenty-three,  unmar- 
ried, cobbler,  was  received  at  the  psychiatric  clinic  at 
Graz.  Father  irascible,  mother  neuropathic,  uncle  on 
mother's  side  insane. 

Patient  never  had  a  severe  illness,  was  not  addicted  to 
drink,  but  sexually  very  needy.  Five  days  previously  he 
was  attacked  with  an  acute  psychical  disease.  In  broad 
daylight,  and  in  the  presence  of  two  witnesses,  he  made 


488 


PSYCHOPATIIIA  SEXUAI.IS. 


two  separate  attempts  at  rape,  went  into  a  fit  of  delirium^ 
raving  about  obscene  matters  when  arrested,  constantly 
masturbated,  and  became  a  raving  maniac  with  violent 
motoric  irritability  and  fever.  Treatment  with  ergotine 
brought  relief. 

On  January  5th,  1888,  he  was  again  arrested  in  a  fit 
of  raving  mania.  On  the  4th,  he  had  been  morose,  irrita- 
ble, squeamish,  sleepless.  He  became  furious  when  he 
was  foiled  in  two  assaults  on  women.  On  the  6th  his  con- 
dition became  very  much  aggravated,  heavy  delirium  acu- 
tum  (disturbance  of  consciousness,  jactation,  crinching  of 
teeth,  facial  contortions  and  other  motoric  manifestations, 
temperature  40.7°).  Masturbation  as  if  by  instinct.  Re- 
covery under  treatment  with  ergotine  till  the  11th  of 
J  anuary. 

When  restored  to  health  again  he  gave  some  interesting 
details  about  his  illness. 

His  sexual  needs  were  always  very  great.  Coitus  at 
sixteen.  Continence  caused  headaches,  great  psychical 
irritability,  dislike  for  work,  laziness,  sleeplessness.  Hav- 
ing no  opportunity  for  coitus  he  resorted  to  masturbation, 
once  or  twice  daily. 

For  two  months  he  had  had  no  sexual  intercourse. 
As  sexual  excitement  increased,  masturbation  failed  as  a 
means  of  compensation,  but  the  desire  for  coitus  became 
more  vehement  than  ever.  At  the  acme  of  the  attack  his 
memory  failed  him.  In  his  normal  state  he  was  a  decent 
man  and  looked  upon  his  state  as  a  pathological  condition 
which  filled  him  with  alarm  for  the  future. 

Case  192.  On  the  afternoon  of  7th  July,  1874, 
Clemens,  engineer,  being  on  his  way,  on  business,  from 
Trieste  to  Vienna,  left  the  train  at  the  town  of  Bruck,  and, 
passing  through  the  town  to  the  neighbouring  village  of 
St.  Euprecht,  attempted  a  rape  on  an  old  woman,  aged 
seventy,  whom  he  found  alone  in  a  house.  He  was  seized 
by  the  neighbours  and  arrested  by  the  local  police.  At  his 
hearing  he  declared  that  he  had  tried  to  find  the  pound, 


IfYMPHOMANIA  AND  SATYRIiSIS. 


489 


in  order  to  satisfy  his  sexual  desire  with  a  bitch.  He  said 
that  he  often  suffered  with  such  sexual  excitement.  He 
did  not  deny  his  act,  but  excused  it  as  the  result  of  disease. 
The  heat,  the  motion  of  the  cars,  and  anxiety  about  his 
family,  to  whom  he  wished  to  go,  had  confused  him  and 
made  him  ill.  Shame  and  remorse  were  not  shown.  His 
conduct  was  open,  his  mien  gay;  eyes  red  and  bright,  head 
liot,  tongue  coated;  pulse  full,  soft,  beating  over  100; 
fingers  somewhat  tremulous.  The  statements  of  the  ac- 
cused were  precise  but  hurried;  his  glance  uncertain,  and 
with  an  unmistakable  expression  of  lasciviousness.  To  the 
medical  expert  summoned  to  examine  him  he  gave  the 
impression  of  one  suffering  with  disease — as  if  he  were  in 
the  beginning  of  alcoholic  insanity. 

C.  was  forty-five  years  old,  married,  father  of  one  child. 
He  did  not  know  what  diseases  his  parents  or  other  mem- 
bers of  his  family  had.  In  childhood  he  was  weak  and 
neuropathic.  At  the  age  of  five  his  head  was  injured  by 
a  blow  with  a  hoe.  A  scar  one-half  cm.  broad  by  one 
cm.  long,  situated  on  the  right  parietal  and  frontal  bones, 
dated  from  that  injury.  The  bone  was  here  somewhat 
depressed.  The  overlying  skin  was  united  to  the  bone. 
Pressure  at  this  point  caused  pain,  which  radiated  along 
the  lower  branch  of  the  trigeminus.  This  spot  was  also 
at  times  spontaneously  painful.  In  his  youth  he  suffered 
"fainting  spells'';  before  puberty,  pneumonia,  rheumatism 
and  intestinal  catarrh.  At  the  age  of  seven  he  experienced 
a  peculiar  inclination  for  men — i.e.^  for  a  certain  superior. 
Whenever  he  saw  this  man  he  had  a  peculiar  feeling  in 
his  heart ;  kissed  the  ground  he  walked  on.  At  ten  he  fell 
in  love  with  a  certain  deputy.  Later  he  had  an  enthusiasm 
for  men,  though  it  was  entirely  platonic.  He  began  to 
masturbate  at  the  age  of  fourteen ;  first  intercourse  at  sev- 
enteen. Then  the  earlier  manifestations  of  inverted  sexual 
feeling  disappeared  entirely.  At  that  time  he  passed 
through  a  peculiar  acute  psychopathic  condition,  which  he 
described  as  a  kind  of  clairvoyance.  From  fifteen,  haemor- 
rhoids, with  symptoms  of  abdominal  plethora.    When  he 


490 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


had  profuse  hsemorrhoidal  haemorrhage,  which  occurred 
usually  every  three  or  four  weeks,  he  was  better.  At 
other  times  he  was  constantly  in  a  condition  of  painful  sex- 
ual excitement,  which  he  satisfied  partly  by  means  of  onan- 
ism and  partly  by  coitus.  Every  woman  he  met  excited 
him ;  even  when  he  was  among  female  relatives  he  was  im- 
pelled to  make  indecent  proposals.  Sometimes  it  was  possi- 
ble for  him  to  master  his  desire ;  sometimes  he  was  driven  to 
indecent  acts.  If,  after  these,  he  was  ejected  from  the 
house,  it  seemed  perfectly  right  to  him;  for  he  thought 
that  he  needed  such  correction  and  support  against  his 
powerful  impulse,  which  was  a  burden  to  him.  'No  period- 
icity in  this  sexual  excitement  was  recognisable. 

Until  1861  he  committed  excesses  in  venery  and  was 
several  times  infected  with  gonorrhoea  and  chancres.  In 
1861,  marriage.  He  was  sexually  satisfied,  but  became  a 
burden  to  his  wife  on  account  of  his  great  sensuality.  In 
1864  he  passed  through  an  attack  of  mania  in  the  hospital 
at  Fiume,  and  in  the  same  year  he  again  fell  ill,  and  was 
taken  to  the  insane  asylum  at  Ybbs,  where  he  remained 
until  1867.  There  he  suffered  with  recurrent  mania,  ac- 
companied by  great  sexual  excitement.  He  said  that  in- 
testinal catarrh  and  anxiety  were  the  cause  of  his  illness 
at  that  time. 

Thereafter  he  was  well,  but  he  suffered  much  on  ac- 
count of  his  excessive  sexual  desire.  If  he  were  absent 
from  his  wife  but  a  short  time  the  impulse  became  so 
powerful  that  man  or  animal  was  indifferent  to  him  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  lust.  In  summer  these  impulses 
were  much  stronger,  and  were  always  accompanied  by  ab- 
dominal plethora.  Something  that  he  remembered  in 
medical  reading  made  him  think  that  in  his  case  the  gan- 
glionic system  was  more  powerful  than  the  cerebral.  In 
October,  1873,  on  account  of  business,  he  had  to  leave  his 
wife.  From  that  time  until  Easter,  with  the  exception  of 
occasional  masturbation,  there  was  no  sexual  indulgence. 
After  that  he  made  use  of  women  as  well  as  bitches.  From 
the  middle  of  June  until  7th  of  July,  he  had  no  oppor- 


NYMPHOMANIA  AND  SATYRIASIS. 


491 


tunity  for  sexual  indulgence.  He  felt  nervously  excited, 
relaxed,  and  as  if  he  were  going  crazy.  Of  late  he  had 
slept  badly.  A  longing  for  his  wife,  who  lived  in  Vienna, 
drove  him  to  leave  his  business.  He  obtained  leave  of  ab- 
sence. The  heat  and  the  noise  of  the  train  confused  him, 
and  he  could  no  longer  hold  out  against  his  sexual  excite- 
ment and  the  pressure  of  blood  in  his  abdomen.  Every- 
thing danced  before  his  eyes.  He  left  the  car  at  Bruck, 
and  was  absolutely  confused,  not  knowing  where  he  went ; 
and  for  a  moment  the  thought  came  to  him  to  throw  him- 
self in  the  water;  everything  appeared  as  in  a  mist  before 
his  eyes.  Then  he  saw  a  woman,  exposed  his  genitals,  and 
tried  to  embrace  her.  She  cried  for  help,  and  thus  he  was 
arrested. 

After  the  attempt  it  suddenly  became  clear  to  him 
what  he  had  done.  He  openly  confessed  his  crime, 
which  he  remembered  in  all  its  details,  but  which  seemed 
to  him  to  be  something  abnormal.  He  could  not  help  it. 
For  some  days  after  this  C.  suffered  with  headache  and 
congestions,  and  was  now  and  then  excited  and  restless, 
and  slept  badly.  His  mental  functions  were  undisturbed, 
but  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  congenitally  peculiar  man, 
with  a  character  weak  and  devoid  of  energy.  The  facial 
expression  had  something  lascivious  and  peculiar  about 
it.  He  suffered  with  haemorrhoids.  The  genitals  pre- 
sented nothing  abnormal.  The  cranium  was  narrow  and 
retreating  at  the  forehead.  Body  large  and  well  nourished. 
With  the  exception  of  diarrhoea,  there  was  no  disturbance 
of  the  vegetative  functions. 

Case  193.  For  three  years  farmer  D.,  universally 
respected,  married,  aged  thirty-five,  had  manifested  states 
of  sexual  excitement  with  increasing  frequency  and 
severity,  which  during  the  past  year  had  become  true 
paroxysms  of  satyriasis.  It  was  impossible  to  discover 
hereditary  or  other  organic  causes.  D.  was  compelled  a£ 
times,  when  his  sexual  excitement  was  excessive,  to  per- 
form the  sexual  act  from  ten  to  fifteen  times  in  twenty- 


492 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


four  hours,  without  deriving  any  feeling  of  satisfaction. 
Gradually  he  developed  a  condition  of  general  nervous 
hyper-irritability  (erethisme  general)  with,  increased  emo- 
tional irritability  to  the  extent  of  pathological  outbreaks 
of  anger,  and  impulse  to  over  indulgence  in  alcohol,  which 
induced  symptoms  of  alcoholism.  His  attacks  of  satyri- 
asis became  so  violent  that  consciousness  was  interfered 
with,  and  the  patient  raged  about  in  blind  impulse  to 
sexual  acts.  He  demanded  that  his  wife  give  herself  to 
other  men  or  to  animals  in  his  presence;  that  she  allow 
copulation  with  him,  presentihus  fMdbus,  because  this 
would  afford  him  greater  enjoyment.  Memory  for  the 
events  of  these  attacks,  in  which  the  extreme  irritability 
even  led  to  outbreaks  of  maniacal  rage,  was  entirely  want- 
ing. D.  himself  thought  that  he  must  have  had  moments 
in  which  he  no  longer  had  control  of  his  senses,  and  without 
satisfaction  from  his  wife  would  have  been  compelled  to 
seize  the  next  best  female.  After  an  attack  of  violent 
emotion  these  attacks  of  sexual  excitement  suddenly  dis- 
appeared (Lentz,  Bulletin  de  la  societe  de  med.  mentale  de 
Belgique,  JSTo.  21). 

Melancholia. 

The  thoughts  and  feelings  of  melancholiacs  are  not 
favourable  for  the  excitation  of  sexual  desires.  At  the 
same  time,  these  patients  sometimes  masturbate.  In  my 
experience  such  cases  have  always  been  hereditarily  pre- 
disposed and  previously  given  to  onanism.  The  act  did 
not  seem  to  be  so  much  due  to  a  lustful  desire  as  to  be 
induced  by  habit,  ennui,  anxiety  and  the  impulse  to  change 
temporarily  the  painful  mental  condition. 

Hysteria. 

In  this  neurosis  the  sexual  life  is  very  frequently 
abnormal;  indeed,  always  in  predisposed  individuals. 
All  the  possible  anomalies  of  the  sexual  function  may 


NYMPHOMAISriA  AND  SATYEIASIS. 


493 


occur  here,  with  sudden  changes  and  peculiar  activity  ; 
and,  on  an  hereditary  degenerate  basis  and  in  moral 
imbecility,  they  may  appear  in  the  most  perverse 
forms.  The  abnormal  change  and  inversion  of  the 
sexual  feeling  are  never  without  effect  upon  the  patient's 
disposition. 

The  following  case,  reported  by  Giraudy  is  one  of  this 
nature  worthy  of  repetition : — 

Case  194.  Marianne  L.,  of  Bordeaux.  At  night, 
while  the  household  was  asleep  under  the  influence  of 
narcotics  which  she  had  administered,  she  had  given  the 
children  of  the  house  to  her  lover  for  sexual  enjoyment, 
and  made  them  witness  immoral  acts.  It  was  found  that 
L.  was  hysterical  (hemiansesthesia  and  convulsive  attacks), 
but  before  her  illness  she  had  been  a  moral,  trustworthy 
person.  Since  her  illness  she  had  become  a  shameless  pros- 
titute, and  lost  all  moral  sense. 

In  the  hysterical  the  sexual  sphere  is  often  abnormally 
excited.  This  excitement  may  be  intermittent  (men- 
strual ?).  Shameless  prostitution,  even  in  married  women, 
may  result.  In  a  milder  form  the  sexual  impulse  ex- 
presses itself  in  onanism,  going  about  in  a  room  naked^ 
smearing  the  person  with  urine  and  other  filthy  things,  or 
wearing  male  attire,  etc. 

Schiile  ("Klin.  Psychiatric,"  1886,  p.  237),  finds  very 
frequently  an  abnormally  intense  sexual  impulse  "which 
disposes  girls,  and  even  women  living  in  happy  marriage, 
to  become  Messalinas''. 

The  author  cites  known  cases  in  which,  on  the  wed- 
ding-journey, attempts  at  flight  with  men  who  had  been 
accidentally  met  were  made;  and  respected  wives  who 
entered  into  liaisons^  and  sacrificed  everything  to  their 
insatiable  impulse. 

In  hysterical  insanity  the  abnormally  intense  sexual 
impulse  may  express  itself  in  delusions  of  jealousy,  un- 


494 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


founded  accusations  against  men  for  immoral  acts/  hallu- 
cinations of  coitus/  etc. 

Occasionally  frigidity  may  occur,  with  absence  of  lust- 
ful feeling — due,  for  the  most  part,  to  genital  anaesthesia. 

Paranoia. 

Abnormal  manifestations  in  the  sexual  sphere,  in  the 
various  forms  of  paranoia,  are  not  infrequent.  Many  of 
these  cases  are  developed  on  sexual  abuse  (masturbatic 
paranoia)  or  sexual  excitement ;  and,  according  to  experi- 
ence, in  individuals  psychically  degenerate,  with  other 
functional  signs  of  degeneracy,  the  sexual  sphere  is,  for  the 
most  part,  deeply  implicated. 

In  paranoia  religiosa  and  erotica  the  abnormally  in- 
tense and,  under  certain  circumstances,  perverse  sexual  in- 
stinct is  most  clearly  manifested.  In  the  first  variety, 
how^ever,  the  condition  of  sexual  excitation  is  expressed 
not  so  much  in  a  direct  method  of  satisfaction  of  the 
sexual  desires  as  (there  are  exceptions)  in  platonic  love — 
in  enthusiastic  admiration  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex 
who  is  pleasing  aesthetically.  Under  certain  circumstances, 
the  enthusiasm  is  for  an  imaginary  person,  a  portrait,  or  a 
statue. 

A  love  for  the  opposite  sex  that  is  weak  and  purely 
mental  also,  often  has  its  basis  in  weakness  of  the  genitals 
due  to  long-continued  masturbation;  and,  under  the  guise 
of  virtuous  admiration  for  a  beloved  person,  great  lascivi- 
ousness  and  sexual  perversion  are  often  concealed.  Epi- 
sodically, especially  in  women,  violent  sexual  excitement 
may  occur  as  a  nymphomania. 

For  the  most  part,  paranoia  religiosa  rests  upon  sexual- 
ity which  manifests  itself  in  a  sexual  impulse  abnormally 

^  Vide  case  of  Merlac,  in  the  author's  Lehrb.  d.  ger.  Psycho- 
pathoL,"  2  Aufl.,  p.  322 ;  Morel,  Traits  des  malad.  mentales,"  p. 
687;  Legrand,  "La  folie,"  p.  337;  Process  La  Ronci^re,  in  "Annal. 
d'hyg.,"  1  Serie,  iv.;  3  Serie,  xxii. 

^  The  incubus  in  the  witch-trials  of  the  middle  ages  depended  op 
them, 


PARANOIA* 


405 


early  and  intense.  The  libido  finds  satisfaction  in  mas- 
turbation or  religions  enthusiasm,  the  object  of  which  may 
be  a  certain  minister,  saint,  etc* 

The  psycho- pathological  relations  between  the  sexual 
and  religious  domains  have  been  described  in  detail  on 
p.  10  et  seq. 

Apart  from  masturbation,  sexual  crimes  are  relatively 
frequent  in  religious  paranoia. 

Marc's  work  (p.  160)  contains  a  remarkable  example 
of  religious  insanity. 

Giraud  (^^Annal.  med.  psychol.'')  has  reported  a  case 
of  immorality  with  a  little  girl  by  a  religious  paranoiac, 
aged  forty-three,  who  was  temporarily  erotic.  Here,  also, 
belongs  a  case  of  incest  (Liman,  ^^Vierteljahrsschr.  f.  ger. 
Med.^'). 

Case  195.  M.  impregnated  his  daughter.  Tlis  wife, 
mother  of  eighteen  children,  and  herself  pregnant  by  her 
husband,  lodged  the  complaint.  M.  had  had  religious 
paranoia  for  two  years.  ^^It  was  revealed  to  me  that  I 
should  beget  the  Eternal  Son  with  my  daughter.  Then  a 
man  of  flesh  and  blood  would  arise  by  my  faith,  who  would 
be  1800  years  old.  He  would  be  a  bridge  between  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament."  This  command,  which  he 
deemed  divine,  was  the  cause  of  his  insane  act. 

Sexual  acts  that  have  a  pathological  motive  sometimes 
occur  in  persecutory  paranoia. 

Case  196.  A  woman  of  thirty  had,  under  promise 
of  money  and  food,  enticed  a  boy  of  five,  who  played  near 
her,  handled  his  genitals,  and  then  attempted  coitus.  She 
was  a  teacher  who  had  been  betrayed  and  then  cast  off. 
Previously  moral,  for  some  time  she  had  given  herself  to 
prostitution.  The  explanation  of  her  immoral  change 
was  given,  when  it  was  found  that  she  had  various  delu- 
sions of  persecution,  and  thought  she  was  under  the  secret 
influence  of  her  seducer,  who  impelled  her  to  sexual  acts. 


496 


PSYCHOPATIIIA  SEXUALIS. 


She  also  believed  that  the  boy  had  been  put  in  her  way 
by  her  seducer.  Coarse  sensuality  as  a  motive  for  her 
crime  came  less  into  consideration,  as  it  v^ould  have  been 
easy  for  her  to  satisfy  sexual  desire  in  a  natural  v^ay 
(Kussnerj,  ^^Berl.  klin.  Wochenschrift"). 

Case  197,  Immoral  Ads  With  Children — Paranoia. 
On  the  26th  of  May,  X.,  aged  forty-six,  railway  official, 
was  arrested  in  the  act  of  sucking  the  penis  of  a  boy  eight 
years  of  age  in  the  public  highway.  On  the  way  to  prison 
he  committed  the  same  offence  on  a  fellow  prisoner,  who 
was  riding  in  the  same  vehicle  with  him;  and  again  on 
another  prisoner.  He  was  sent  to  the  psychiatric  ward  of 
the  hospital,  where  he  made  similar  attempts.  He  was 
then  isolated. 

The  medical  examination  proved  paranoia  persecutoria, 
developed  from  constitutional  neurasthenia.  X.  was  heav- 
ily tainted  by  heredity.  His  illusion  was  that  the  admin- 
istration under  which  he  had  served  were  persecuting  him 
and  tried  to  force  him  to  resume  his  former  duties.  He  had 
noticed  that  persons  who  were  friendly  to  him,  especially 
his  superiors,  tried  to  show  him  a  way  in  which  he  could 
rid  himself  of  this  fear  of  persecution.  They  did  so  by 
putting  a  finger  in  their  mouth  and  sucking  it.  Still 
plainer  were  the  suggestions  of  his  chums  who,  pointing  to 
a  dog,  i.e,^  meaning  himself,  would  speak  of  ^^licking.'^ 
This  started  the  idea  in  him  that  if  he  could  be  appre- 
hended in  the  act  of  licking  somebody's  genitals,  his  su- 
periors would  become  disgusted  with  him  and  dismiss  him 
from  service,  in  which  way  he  would  regain  his  freedom. 

For  a  long  time  he  could  not  muster  up  courage  enough 
to  commit  such  an  act,  but  the  idea  became  so  strong  that 
at  first  he  resorted  to  cunnilingus  with  prostitutes,  who  in- 
vited him  with  cunning  looks  to  this  delectable  feast.  As 
these  women,  however,  refused  to  denounce  him  to  the 
authorities,  he  attacked  boys  and  girls — the  sex  was  im- 
material— who,  he  fancied,  invited  him  by  gestures  to  the 
act.     He  could  not  understand,  however,  why  he  should 


PARANOIA, 


497 


come  m  conflict  with  the  police  by  committing  an  act  which 
was  suggested  to  him  by  his  superiors  in  office, — and  all 
this  in  spite  of  the  continued  persecution  of  the  railway 
administration. 

It  is  strange  that  X.  should  have  had  recourse  to  such 
an  abominable  and  nauseating  sexual  act  and  not  to  theft 
or  some  other  act  of  dishonesty,  unless  it  is  explained  on 
the  ground  of  an  increasing  neurasthenia,  coupled  with  a 
perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct  and  subsequent  impotence. 
He  was  always  hypersexual,  with  an  heterosexual  predis- 
position, suffered  for  years  from  neurasthenia  sexualis, 
and  derived  no  satisfaction  from  coitus.  As  in  time  erec- 
tion became  difficult,  he  had  consulted  several  physicians, 
who  advised  abstinence.  His  excessive  libido  rendered  it 
difficult  to  follow  this  advice,  and  impotence  prevented 
coitus.  This  suggested  cunnilingus,  which  granted  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  sexual  gratification  and  at  times  even  pro- 
duced ejaculation.  This  also  compensated  him  for  the 
nausea  he  experienced  during  the  act  and  paved  the  way  to 
his  folly  on  children. 

He  claimed  that  in  this  act  he  found  sexual  satisfac- 
tion, but  the  chief  object  for  it  always  was  to  rid  himself 
of  persecution  by  his  superiors.  This  passion  calmed  down 
under  treatment  at  the  hospital,  and  he  became  a  decent 
man  when  put  under  domestic  supervision. 

Cullerre  (^^Perversions  sexuelles  chez  les  persecutes,'^ 
in  ^^Annal.  medico-psychoL,''  March,  1886)  has  reported 
similar  cases, — the  case  of  a  patient  who,  suffering  with 
paranoia  sexualis  persecutoria^  tried  to  violate  his  sister, 
giving  as  a  reason  that  the  impulse  was  given  him  by 
Bonapartists. 

In  another  case  a  captain,  suffering  with  delusions  of 
persecution  by  electro-magnetism,  was  driven  to  ped- 
erasty 5 — a  thing  he  abhorred.  In  a  similar  case  the  perse- 
cutor impelled  to  onanism  and  pederasty. 


32 


V.  PATHOLOGICAL  SEXUALITY  IN*  ITS  LEGAL 

ASPECTS.' 


The  laws  of  all  civilised  nations  punish  those  who  com- 
mit perverse  sexual  acts.  Inasmuch  as  the  preservation 
of  chastity  and  morals  is  one  of  the  most  important  reasons 
for  the  existence  of  the  commonwealth^  the  state  cannot 
be  too  careful,  as  a  protector  of  morality,  in  the  struggle 
against  sensuality.  This  contest  is  unequal ;  because  only 
a  certain  number  of  the  sexual  crimes  can  be  legally  com- 
batted,  and  the  infractions  of  the  laws  by  so  powerful  a 
natural  instinct  can  be  but  little  influenced  by  punishment. 
It  also  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  sexual  crimes  that  but  a 
part  of  them  ever  reach  the  knowledge  of  the  authorities. 
Public  sentiment,  in  that  it  looks  upon  them  as  disgraceful, 
lends  much  aid. 

Criminal  statistics  prove  the  sad  fact  that  sexual  crimes 
are  progressively  increasing  in  our  modern  civilisation.^ 
This  is  particularly  the  case  with  immoral  acts  with  chil- 
dren under  the  age  of  fourteen. 

Casper  (Clinical  novels),  drew  attention  to  this  de- 
plorable fact  early  in  the  sixties  of  the  19th  century.  As 
a  criminal  physician  (Berlin)  he  had  fifty-two  cases  of 
crimes  against  morality  under  observation  from  1842-57, 
but  during  the  decade  of  1852-1861  the  number  rose  to  138. 

*  Weishrodj  "  Die  Sittlichkeitsverbrechen  vor  dem  Gesetz," 
Berlin,  1891;  Dr.  Pasquale  Penta,  "I  pervertimentl  sessuali  nell'- 
uomo,"  Napoli,  1893;  Seydel,  "Die  Beurtheilung  der  perversen  Sex- 
ualvergehen  in  foro,"  "  Vierteljalirsschr.  fur  ger.  Med.,"  1893,  Heft 
2;  Viazzij  "  reati  sessuali"  ("Biblioteca  antropologico-giuridica  " )  ; 
Archivio  di  Psichiatria,  vol.  xix.,  fasc.  1.,  "  Strafgesetzbiicher  imd 
Unzuehtsdelikte." — v,  Schrenk-Notzing,  Areliiv  f.  Kriminalanthropol. 
Bd.  1,  H.  1. 

^Cf,  Casper,  "Klin.  Novellen";  Lomhroso,  Goltdammer'a 
Arcbiv,"  Bd.  xxx.;  Oettingen,  "Moralstatistik,"  p.  494. 

498 


PATHOLOGICAL,  SEXUALITY  IN  ITS  LEGAL  ASPECTS.  499 

According  to  the  ''Comptes  rendus  de  la  justice  crimi- 
nelle  en  France,''  during  the  period  of  1826-1840,  ''atten- 
tats aux  moeurs"  formed  only  20  per  cent,  of  the  criminal 
proceedings,  whilst  from  1856-60  the  average  rose  to  53 
per  cent.  Sexual  atrocities  on  children  were  but  1-13  of 
all  cases  tried  before  the  criminal  forum  from  1826-30, 
but  1-3  during  the  period  of  1856-60. 

Oettingen  (^^Moralstatistik")  quotes  136  cases  of  stup- 
rum  on  children  committed  in  France  in  1826,  but  805  in 
1867. 

Moreau  ("Aberrations  du  sens  genesique")  quotes,  for 
the  year  1872,  682  cases  of  immoral  attacks  on  children 
in  France,  for  the  year  1876  their  number  was  875. 

In  England  similar  delicts  on  children  numbered  167 
for  the  period  1830-34,  and  1395  for  the  period  1855-57. 

In  Prussia,  according  to  Oettingen,  sexual  attempts 
were  in  the  proportion  of  325  :925 ;  sexual  crimes  in  the 
proportion  of  1477 :2945.  Ortloff  also  finds  ("die  straf- 
baren  Handlungen")  a  considerable  increase  in  immoral 
offences  on  children  under  the  age  of  fourteen.  We  are 
indebted  to  Thoinot  for  interesting  statistics  of  moral 
offences  dealt  with  by  the  criminal  courts  of  France  (at- 
tentats aux  moeurs  et  perversions  des  sens  genital,  1898, 
Paris).  Sexual  criminal  cases  seem  to  have  been  on  the 
wane  in  France.  There  were  in  1860  830  (2.3  to  a 
population  of  100,000)  offenders  sentenced;  in  1892  only 
679  (1.7  to  a  population  of  100,000).  The  proportion 
of  crimes  committed  on  adults  and  children  was  in  1860 
180 :650  (1 :3.6),  whilst  in  1892  it  rose  to  78  :601  (1 :7.7). 
In  1885  it  reached  the  highest  point,  viz. :  1 :9.5. 

The  moralist  sees  in  these  sad  facts  nothing  but  the 
decay  of  general  morality,  and  in  some  instances  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  present  mildness  of  the  laws  pun- 
ishing sexual  crimes,  in  comparison  with  their  severity  in 
past  centuries,  is  in  part  responsible  for  this. 

The  medical  investigator  is  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  this  manifestation  of  modern  social  life  stands  in 
relation  to  the  predominating  nervous  condition  of  later 


500 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAI.IS. 


generations,  in  that  it  begets  defective  individuals,  excites 
the  sexual  instinct,  leads  to  sexual  abuse,  and,  with  con- 
tinuance of  lasciviousness  associated  with  diminished  sex- 
ual power,  induces  perverse  sexual  acts. 

It  will  be  clearly  seen  from  what  follows  how  such  an 
opinion  is  justified,  especially  with  respect  of  the  increas- 
ing number  of  sexual  crimes  committed  on  children. 

The  relative  increase  of  sexual  delicts  on  children 
seems  to  point  to  an  advance  in  the  physical  decadence 
(impotence)  and  psychical  degeneration  of  the  adult  popu- 
lation. 

This  view  seems  to  be  supported  by  Tardieu^  Brouardel 
and  Bernard,  who  find  that  attacks  on  children  are  more 
frequent  in  large  cities,  whilst  those  on  adults,  especially 
rape,  occur  more  often  in  the  country. 

The  statistical  facts  compiled  by  Tardieu  and  Brouar- 
del,  according  to  which  the  proportion  of  sexual  offences  on 
children  is  in  ratio  with  the  age  of  the  offender,  i.e.,  the 
older  the  criminal  the  younger  the  victim,  and  the  circum- 
stance that  acts  of  immorality  by  very  old  men  are  only 
committed  on  children,  seem  to  demonstrate  that  impotentia 
coeundi  and  moral  decay  {dementia  senilis)  are  the  funda- 
mental causes  of  these  horrible  crimes. 

It  is  at  once  evident,  from  the  foregoing,  that  neuro- 
pathic, and  even  psychopathic,  states  are  largely  determin- 
ate for  the  commission  of  sexual  crimes.  Here  nothing 
less  than  the  responsibility  of  many  of  the  men  who  com- 
mit such  crimes  is  called  in  question. 

Psychiatry  cannot  be  denied  the  credit  of  having  re- 
cognised and  proved  the  psycho-pathological  significance  of 
numerous  monstrous,  paradoxical  sexual  acts. 

Law  and  Jurisprudence  have  thus  far  given  but  little 
attention  to  the  facts  resulting  from  investigations  in 
psycho-pathologj^  Law  is,  in  this,  opposed  to  Medicine, 
and  is  constantly  in  danger  of  passing  judgment  on  in- 
dividuals who,  in  the  light  of  science,  are  not  responsible 
for  their  acts. 

Owing  to  this  superficial  treatment  of  acts  that  deeply 


PATHOLOGICAL  SEXUALITY  IN  ITS  LEGAL  ASPECTS.  501 

concern  the  interests  and  welfare  of  society,  it  becomes 
very  easy  for  justice  to  treat  a  delinquent,  who  is  as  dan- 
gerous to  society  as  a  murderer  or  a  wild  beast,  as  a  crimi- 
nal, and,  after  punishment,  release  him  to  prey  on  society 
again ;  on  the  other  hand,  scientific  investigation  shows  that 
a  man  mentally  and  sexually  degenerate  ah  origine,  and 
therefore  irresponsible,  must  be  removed  from  society  for 
life,  but  not  as  a  punishment. 

A  judge  who  considers  only  the  crime,  and  not  its  per- 
petrator, is  always  in  danger  of  injuring  not  only  import- 
ant interests  of  society  (general  morality  and  safety),  but 
also  those  of  the  individual  (honour). 

In  no  domain  of  criminal  law  is  co-operation  of  judge 
and  medical  expert  so  much  to  be  desired  as  in  that  of 
sexual  delinquencies;  and  here  only  anthropological  and 
clinical  investigation  can  afford  light  and  knowledge. 

The  nature  of  the  act  can  never,  in  itself,  determine  a 
decision  as  to  whether  it  lies  within  the  limits  of  mental 
pathology,  or  within  the  bounds  of  mental  physiology. 
The  perverse  act  does  not  per  se  indicate  perversion  of  in- 
stinct.  At  any  rate,  the  most  monstrous  and  most  perverse 
sexual  acts  have  been  committed  by  persons  of  sound  mind. 
The  perversion  of  feeling  must  be  shown  to  he  pathological. 
This  proof  is  to  be  obtained  by  learning  the  conditions 
attending  its  development,  and  by  proving  it  to  be  part 
of  an  existing  general  neuropathic  or  psychopathic  condi- 
tion. 

The  species  facti  is  important ;  but  it,  too,  allows  only 
presumptions,  since  the  same  sexual  act,  according  as  it 
is  committed  by  an  epileptic,  paralytic,  or  a  man  of  sound 
mind,  takes  on  other  features  and  peculiarities,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  manner  in  which  it  is  done. 

Periodical  recurrence  of  the  act  under  identical  circum- 
stances, and  an  impulsive  manner  in  carrying  it  out,  give 
rise  to  weighty  presumptions  that  it  is  of  pathological  sig- 
nificance. The  decision,  however,  must  follow  after  re- 
ferring the  act  to  its  psychological  motive  (abnormalities 
of  thought  and  feeling) ,  and  after  showing  this  elementary 


502 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


anomaly  to  be  but  one  symptom  of  a  general  neuropathic 
condition — either  an  arrest  of  mental  development,  or  a 
condition  of  psychical  degeneration,  or  a  psychosis. 

The  cases  discussed  in  the  portion  of  this  work  devoted 
to  general  and  special  pathology  will  certainly  be  useful 
to  the  medical  expert,  in  assisting  him  to  discover  the 
motive  of  the  act. 

To  obtain  the  facts  necessary  to  allow  a  decision  of 
the  question  whether  immorality  or  abnormality  occa- 
sioned the  act,  a  medico-legal  examination  is  required — an 
examination  which  is  made  according  to  the  rules  of 
science;  which  takes  account  of  both  the  past  history  of 
the  individual  and  the  present  condition, — the  anthropo- 
logical and  clinical  data. 

The  proof  of  the  existence  of  an  original^  congenital 
anomaly  of  the  sexual  sphere  is  important,  and  points  to 
the  need  of  an  examination  in  the  direction  of  a  condition 
of  psychical  degeneration.  An  acquired  perversity,  to  be 
pathological,  must  be  found  to  depend  upon  a  neuropathic 
or  psychopathic  state. 

Practically,  paretic  dementia  and  epilepsy  must  first 
come  to  mind.  The  decision  concerning  responsibility 
will  depend  on  the  demonstration  of  the  existence  of  a 
psychopathic  state  in  the  individual  charged  with  a  sexual 
crime. 

This  is  indispensable,  to  avoid  the  danger  of  covering 
simple  immorality  with  the  cloak  of  disease. 

Psychopathic  states  may  lead  to  crimes  against  moral- 
ity, and  at  the  same  time  remove  the  conditions  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  responsibility,  under  the  following  cir- 
cumstances : — 

1.  To  oppose  the  normal  or  intensified  sexual  desire, 
there  may  be  no  moral  or  legal  notions,  owing  to  (a)  the 
fact  that  they  may  never  have  been  developed  (states  of 
congenital  mental  weakness)  ;  or  to  (&)  the  fact  that  they 
have  been  lost  (states  of  acquired  mental  weakness). 

2.  When  the  sexual  desire  is  increased  (states  of  psy- 
chical exaltation),  consciousness  simultaneously  clouded 


PATHOLOGICAL  SEXUALITY  IN  ITS  LEGAL  ASPECTS.  503 

and  the  mental  mechanism  too  much  disturbed  to  allow 
the  opposing  ideas,  virtually  present,  to  exert  their  in- 
fluence. 

3.  When  the  sexual  instinct  is  perverse  (states  of 
psychical  degeneration).  It  may,  at  the  same  time,  be  so 
intensified  as  to  be  irresistible. 

Cases  of  sexual  delinquency  that  occur  outside  of  states 
of  mental  defect,  degeneration,  or  disease,  can  never  be 
excused  on  the  ground  of  irresponsibility. 

In  many  cases,  instead  of  an  abnormal  psychical  condi- 
tion, a  neurosis  (local  or  general)  is  found.  Inasmuch  as 
the  transitions  from  a  neurosis  to  a  psychosis  are  easy, 
and  elementary  psychical  disturbances  are  frequent  in 
the  former,  and  constant  in  profound  perversion  of  the 
sexual  life,  the  neurotic  affection — cg.j,  impotence,  irritable 
weakness,  etc. — exerts  an  influence  on  the  motive  of  the 
incriminating  act;  and  a  just  judge,  notwithstanding  the 
lack  of  legal  irresponsibility  due  to  mental  defect  or  dis- 
ease, will  recognize  the  circumstances  which  ameliorate 
the  heinousness  of  the  crime. 

For  various  reasons  the  practical  jurist  will,  in  all  cases 
of  sexual  crimes,  call  medical  experts  to  make  a  psychiatric 
examination. 

To  be  sure,  his  own  conscience  and  judgment  must  be 
the  guides  when  necessity  makes  them  his  only  reliance. 
Under  the  following  circumstances  indices  are  given  which 
point  to  a  pathological  condition : — 

The  accused  is  senile.  The  sexual  crime  is  commit- 
ted openly,  with  remarkable  cynicism.  The  manner  of 
obtaining  sexual  satisfaction  is  silly  (exhibition),  or  cruel 
(mutilation  or  murder),  or  perverse  (necrophilia,  etc.). 

From  what  experience  teaches,  it  may  be  said  that, 
among  the  sexual  acts  that  occur,  rape,  mutilation,  peder- 
asty, amor  leshicus,  and  bestiality  may  have  a  psycho- 
pathological  basis. 

In  case  of  lust-murder — in  as  far  as  its  ulterior  object 
goes  beyond  the  murder  itself — and  likewise  in  cases  of 
mutilation  of  corpses,  psychopathic  conditions  are  probable. 


504 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Exhibition  and  mutual  masturbation  seem  to  indicate 
tbe  probable  existence  of  pathological  conditions.  Mas- 
turbation of  another  and  passive  onanism  may  occur  in 
connection  with  senile  dementia  and  inverted  sexual  feel- 
ing, but  also  with  mere  sensuality. 

Cunnilingus  and  fellare  (penem  in  os  mulieris  arri- 
gere)  have  not  thus  far  been  shown  to  depend  upon  psycho- 
pathological  conditions. 

These  horrible  sexual  acts  seem  to  be  committed  only 
by  sensual  men  who  have  become  satiated  or  impotent 
from  excessive  indulgence  in  a  normal  way.  Pcedicatio 
mulierum  does  not  seem  to  be  psychopathic,  but  rather  a 
practice  of  married  men  of  low  morality,  who  wish  to 
prevent  pregnancy;  and  of  satiated  cynics  in  non-marital 
sexual  indulgence. 

The  practical  importance  of  the  subject  makes  it  neces- 
sary that  the  sexual  acts  threatened  with  punishment  as 
sexual  crimes  be  considered  by  jurists  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  medico-legal  expert.  Thus  there  is  an  advantage 
gained,  in  that  the  psycho-pathological  acts,  according  to 
circumstances,  are  placed  in  the  right  light  by  comparison 
with  analogous  acts  that  fall  within  the  domain  of  physio- 
logical psychology. 

!.  Offence  Against  Morality  in  the  Form  of  Exhibition.' 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §516;  Abridgment,  §195.   German  Statutes,  §183.) 

In  man's  present  condition  of  civilisation,  modesty  is 
a  characteristic  and  motive  so  firmly  fixed  by  centuries 
of  education  that  presumption  of  a  psycho-pathological 
element  necessarily  arises  when  public  decency  is  coarsely 
offended. 

^  Boissier  et  Lachaux,  "  Perversions  sexuelles  a  forme  obs6dante," 
"Archives  de  Neurologie,"  1893,  October;  Schdfer,  "  Vierteljahrsschr. 
f.  gerichtl.  Med.,"  3  Folge,  x.,  1. — Thoinot,  attentats  aux  moeurs, 
1898,  p.  366-398;— /Sfeiffer,  Arch.  f.  Psych.  Bd.  31,  H.  1  and  2.— 
Cramer,  Die  Beziehungen  des  Exhib.  zum  §51.  des  deutsch.  Stfgsb., 
Zeitschr.  f.  Psych.  54,  p.  4.%\,—Bas8enge,  Der  Exhibitionismus,  Inaug.- 
Dissert.,  Berlin,  1896.— Foc^e,  Neurolog.  Centralbl.,  1896,  2. 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MOKALITY, 


505 


The  presumption  is  justifiable  that  an  individual  who 
has  in  this  way  offended  public  decency  and  his  own  self- 
respect  was  incaj)able  of  (idiots)  or  had  lost  the  feelings  of 
morality  (states  of  acquired  mental  weakness)  ;  or  that  he 
acted  while  in  a  clouded  state  of  consciousness  (transitory 
insanity,  states  of  partial  consciousness). 

A  very  distinctive  act  which  belongs  here  is  that  of 
exhibition  (exposure).  The  cases  thus  far  recorded  are 
exclusively  those  of  men  who  ostentatiously  expose  their 
genitals  to  persons  of  the  opposite  sex,  whom  in  some  in- 
stances they  even  pursue,  without,  however,  becoming 
aggressive. 

The  silly  manner  of  this  sexual  activity,  or  really 
sexual  demonstration,  points  to  intellectual  and  moral 
weakness:  or,  at  least,  to  temporary  inhibition  of  the 
intellectual  and  moral  fimctions,  with  excitation  of  libido 
dependent  upon  a  decided  disturbance  of  consciousness 
(abnormal  unconsciousness,  mental  confusion),  and  at 
the  same  time  calls  the  virility  of  these  individuals  in 
question.  Thus  there  are  various  categories  of  exhibi- 
tionists. 

The  first  category  includes  acquired  states  of  mental 
weakness  in  which,  owing  to  the  causative  cerebral  (or 
spinal)  disease,  consciousness  is  clouded,  and  the  ethical 
and  intellectual  functions  are  interfered  with;  and  in 
which  there  can  be  no  resistance  made  to  a  sexual  desire 
that  has  either  always  been  intense  or  that  has  been 
intensified  by  the  disease-process.  At  the  same  time 
impotence  exists,  and  no  longer  permits  expression  of  the 
sexual  instinct  in  violent  acts  (rape),  but  only  in  acts  that 
are  silly. 

The  majority  of  reported  cases^  fall  in  this  category. 

^LaseguCy  "Union  Medical e,"  1877,  May;  Laugier,  **Annal.  d'hy- 
gi^ne  publ.,"  1878,  No.  106;  Pelande,  "  Pornopaths,'*  "  Archivio  di 
Psichiatria,"  viii.;  Schuchardt,  "  Zeitschr.  f.  Medicinalbeamte/'  1890, 
Heft  6. — Duchateau,  Bulletin  de  la  soci6t6  de  m^decine  de  Gand,  1897, 
Febr.-March. — Oarnier,  Annal.  m^dico.-psychol.  1894,  Jan.-Feb. — 
Vigouroux,  ibidem. —  Eoppe,  Vierteljahrsschr.  f.  gerichtl.  Med.,  3. 


506 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


They  are  those  of  individuals  afflicted  with  senile  demen- 
tia, paretic  dementia,  or  mental  defects  due  to  alcoholism, 
epilepsy,  etc. 

Case  198.  Z.,  high  official,  aged  sixty;  widower, 
father  of  a  family.  He  gave  offence  in  that,  during 
fourteen  days,  he  had  repeatedly  exposed  his  genitals  at 
his  window,  to  a  girl  of  eight  years  who  lived  opposite 
him.  After  a  few  months,  under  like  circumstances,  this 
man  repeated  his  indecent  act.  At  his  examination  he 
acknowledged  the  depravity  of  his  action,  and  could  give 
no  excuse  for  it.  Death,  a  year  later,  due  to  cerebral 
disease  (Lasegue^,  op.  cit.). 

Case  199.  Z.,  aged  seventy-eight;  seaman.  He 
had  repeatedly  exhibited  his  genitals  on  children's  play- 
grounds and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  girls'  schools.  This 
was  the  only  way  in  which  he  was  active  sexually.  He 
was  married,  and  the  father  of  ten  children.  Twelve 
years  previously  he  had  suffered  a  severe  head-injury, 
which  left  a  deep  scar,  indenting  the  bone.  Pressure  on 
this  scar  caused  pain ;  at  the  same  time  his  face  would  flush, 
his  expression  become  fixed,  and  he  would  grow  som- 
nolent, with  convulsive  movements  in  the  right  upper 
extremity  (apparently  epileptoid  state  in  connection  with 
cortical  disease).  Moreover,  there  was  senile  dementia 
and  advanced  senium.  It  is  not  reported  whether  the 
exhibition  coincided  with  epileptoid  attacks  or  not.  Senile 
dementia  proved;  pardoned  (Dr.  SchucJiardt,  op,  cit,). 

Pelanda  {op.  cit,)  has  reported  a  number  of  cases  of 
this  kind: — 

1.  Paralytic,  aged  sixty.    At  the  age  of  fifty-eight  he 

Folge  XX.,  2. — Leppmann,  Die  Sachverstandigenthatigkeit,  p.  101. — 
Rayneau,  Anna!,  m^d.-pych.  1895,  May-June. — von  Schrenk-Notzing^ 
Arch.  f.  Criminalanthropol.  Bd.  i.,  H.  2  and  3,  Fall  4  u.  5. — Strass- 
mann,  Vierteljahrs.  f.  geriehtl.  Med.,  3.  Folge,  10  Bd, 


OFFEIJiTCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


507 


began  to  exhibit  himself  to  women  and  children.  In  the 
asylum  at  Verona,  for  a  long  time  thereafter,  he  was 
lascivious,  and  also  attempted  fellatio. 

2.  A  drinker,  aged  sixty-six,  suffering  with  folie  cir- 
culaire.  His  exhibition  was  first  noticed  in  church  during 
divine  service.    His  brother  was  likewise  an  exhibitionist. 

3.  A  drinker,  predisposed,  aged  forty-nine.  He  was 
always  very  excitable  sexually;  in  an  asylum  on  account 
of  chronic  alcoholism.  He  exhibited  himself  whenever  he 
saw  a  woman. 

4.  A  man,  aged  sixty-four ;  married ;  father  of  fourteen 
children.  Great  predisposition.  Rachitic,  microcephalic 
head.  For  years  he  had  been  an  exhibitionist,  in  spite  of 
repeated  punishment. 

Case  200.  X.,  merchant,  born  in  1833 ;  single.  He 
had  repeatedly  exhibited  himself  to  children,  or  even 
urinated  at  the  same  time;  once,  under  these  circum- 
stances, he  had  kissed  a  little  girl.  Twenty  years  pre- 
viously X.  had  had  a  severe  attack  of  mental  disease, 
lasting  two  years,  in  which  he  was  said  to  have  had  an 
apoplectic  attack.  Later,  after  loss  of  his  fortune,  he 
gave  himself  to  drink,  and  of  late  years  had  often  appeared 
absent-minded.  His  condition  was  that  of  alcoholism, 
senium  prcecox  and  mental  weakness.  Penis  small;  phi- 
mosis; testicles  atrophic.  Proof  of  mental  disease;  par- 
doned (Dr.  Schuchardt,  op.  cit.). 

Such  cases  recall  the  lasciviousness  of  youthful,  sexu- 
ally excited  persons  that  are  still  more  or  less  boyish; 
but  also  that  of  many  mature  cynics  of  low  morality,  who 
find  pleasure  in  defiling  the  walls  of  public  closets,  etc., 
with  drawings  of  male  and  female  genitals, — a  kind  of 
ideal  exhibition  which,  however,  is  still  widely  separated 
from  actual  exhibition. 

Another  category  of  exhibitionists  is  made  up  of  epilep- 
iics.^   This  category  is  essentially  to  be  distinguished  from 

*  Instructive  case  reported  by  MorselU,  Bolletino  deUa  R. 
Accademia  medica  di  Geneva/'  vol.  ix.  (1894),  fasc.  1. 


508 


PSYCIiOPATHiA  SEXtJALIS. 


the  foregoing,  because  a  conscious  motive  for  the  exhibition 
is  wanting;  and  it  appears  much  more  like  an  impulsive 
act  which,  without  any  consideration  of  external  circum- 
stances, is  performed  as  if  it  were  an  abnormal  organic 
necessity. 

At  the  time  of  the  act  there  is  always  a  state  of  im- 
perfect consciousness;  and  thus  is  explained  the  fact  that 
the  unfortunate  individual,  without  consciousness  of  the 
meaning  of  his  act,  or,  at  least,  without  cynicism^  does  it 
in  obedience  to  a  blind  impulse.  On  regaining  conscious- 
ness, he  regrets  and  abhors  it  if  there  is  not  permanent 
mental  weakness. 

The  prime  motive  in  this  state  of  imperfect  conscious- 
ness, as  with  other  impulsive  acts,  is  a  feeling  of  appre- 
hensive oppression.  If  a  sexual  feeling  become  associated 
with  it,  then  the  ideas  are  given  a  certain  direction  in  the 
sense  of  a  corresponding  (sexual)  act. 

How  sexual  ideas  very  easily  arise  temporarily  in  epi- 
leptics may  be  understood  from  the  discussion  on  p.  468. 

If  however,  such  an  association  has  once  been  formed; 
if  a  particular  act  has  taken  place  in  an  attack — it  is  the 
more  easily  repeated  in  every  subsequent  attack;  for,  so 
to  speak,  a  known  track  has  been  established  in  the  path 
of  motivity. 

The  feeling  of  anxiety,  with  the  state  of  imperfect  con- 
sciousness, causes  the  associated  sexual  impulse  to  appear 
as  a  command — an  inner  force^  which  is  acted  upon  in 
a  purely  impulsive  manner  and  in  a  state  of  absolute 
irresponsibility. 

Case  201.  K.,  a  subordinate  official,  aged  twenty- 
nine;  of  neuropathic  family;  living  in  happy  marriage; 
father  of  one  child.  He  had  repeatedly,  especially  at  dusk, 
exhibited  himself  to  servant-girls.  K.  was  tall,  slim,  pale, 
nervous  and  hasty  in  manner.  There  was  imperfect  mem- 
ory of  the  crimes.  Since  childhood  there  had  been  fre- 
quent severe  congestive  attacks,  with  intense  flushing  of  the 
face,  a  rapid,  tense  pulse,  and  a  fixed,  absent  stare.  At 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


509 


the  same  time  there  were,  now  and  then,  confusion  and 
vertigo.  In  this  (epileptic)  exceptional  state  K.  would 
answer  only  after  repeated  questioning,  and  then  it  was  as 
if  he  were  wahing  from  a  dream.  K.  stated  that  he  had  al- 
ways felt  excited  and  restless  for  some  hours  before  his 
criminal  acts,  and  experienced  a  feeling  of  fear,  with 
oppression,  and  congestion  of  the  head.  In  this  condition 
he  had  often  been  giddy,  and  experienced  an  indistinct 
feeling  of  sexual  excitement.  At  the  height  of  such  states 
he  had  left  the  house,  without  any  purpose  in  view,  and 
exposed  his  genitals  anywhere.  When  he  had  reached 
home  again,  he  had  had  but  a  dreamy  remembrance  of 
what  had  occurred,  and  felt  very  weak  and  depressed. 
It  was  also  remarkable  that,  while  exhibiting  his  genitals, 
he  had  used  lighted  matches  to  make  them  visible.  The 
opinion  was  to  the  effect  that  the  criminal  acts  depended 
upon  epilepsy,  and  were  imperative  impulses ;  but  he  was, 
nevertheless,  sentenced,  with  the  assumption  of  extenuat- 
ing circumstances  (Dr.  ScJiuchardt^  op.  cit). 

Case  202.    L.,  aged  thirty-nine ;  single ;  tailor.  His 

father  was  probably  a  drinker;  he  had  two  epileptic 
brothers,  one  of  whom  was  insane.  The  patient  himself 
had  slight  epileptic  attacks,  and  from  time  to  time  states 
of  imperfect  consciousness,  in  which  he  ran  about  aim- 
lessly, and  thereafter  did  not  know  where  he  had  been. 
He  was  considered  a  moral  man,  but  he  was  now  accused 
of  having  exhibited  and  played  with  his  genitals  in  a 
strange  house  five  or  six  times.  His  remembrance  of 
these  acts  was  very  imperfect. 

On  account  of  repeated  desertion  from  the  army  (pro- 
bably likewise  in  epileptic  states  of  imperfect  conscious- 
ness), L.  had  been  severely  punished.  In  imprisonment 
he  became  insane  with  ^^epileptic  insanity,''  was  sent  to 
the  Charite,  and  from  there  discharged  ^^cured".  As  far 
as  the  criminal  acts  were  concerned,  cynicism  and  wanton- 
ness could  be  excluded.  That  they  were  committed  in  a 
state  of  imperfect  consciousness  was  probable  from  the  fact 


510 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


among  other  things,  that  to  the  policeman  who  arrested 
him,  the  ^ ^imbecile"  appeared  to  be  in  a  remarkably  cloudy 
state  of  mental  consciousness  {Liman,  ''^Vierteljahrsschrift 
f.  ger.  Med./'  K  F.  xxxviii.,  Heft  2.) 

Case  203.  L.,  aged  thirty-seven.  From  15th  October 
to  2nd  November,  he  had  many  times  given  offence  by 
exhibiting  himself  to  girls  in  daylight  in  the  open  street, 
and  even  in  schools,  into  which  he  forced  himself.  It 
happened  occasionally  that  he  wanted  the  girls  to  perform 
manustupration  or  allow  coitus,  and,  when  refused,  he 
performed  masturbation  before  them.  In  G.,  in  a  public- 
house,  he  rapped  with  his  exposed  penis  on  the  window 
so  that  the  children  and  servant-girls  in  the  kitchen  were 
forced  to  see  it. 

After  his  arrest  it  was  ascertained  that  since  1876  L. 
had  very  frequently  caused  trouble  by  exhibitions,  but 
had  always  escaped  punishment,  owing  to  the  demonstra- 
tion of  mental  disease  by  physicians.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  had  been  punished  for  desertion  and  theft  in  the  army, 
and,  later,  once,  as  a  civilian,  for  stealing  cigars.  L.  had 
repeatedly  been  in  asylums  on  account  of  insanity  (at- 
tacks of  insanity?).  Besides,  he  was  often  remarkable  on 
account  of  his  changeable,  quarrelsome  character,  occa- 
sional excitement  and  inconstancy. 

L.'s  brother  died  of  paralysis.  He  himself  presented 
no  degenerative  signs;  no  epileptic  antecedents.  At  the 
time  of  observation  he  was  neither  insane  nor  mentally 
weakened. 

He  behaved  himself  very  well,  and  expressed  great 
regret  for  his  sexual  crimes,  which  he  explained  in  this 
wise:  though  not  a  drinker,  he  occasionally  had  an  im- 
pulse to  drink.  Soon  after  beginning,  congestion  of  the 
head,  vertigo,  restlessness,  anxiety  and  oppression  came 
on.  He  then  passed  into  a  dreamy  state.  An  irresistible 
impulse  now  forced  him  to  expose  himself;  and  he  then 
experienced  a  feeling  of  relief  and  breathed  more  easily. 
When  he  had  once  exposed  himself,  he  knew  nothing 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


511 


more  of  what  he  did.  As  precursors  of  such  attacks,  he 
had  often,  a  short  time  before,  had  flames  before  the  eyes 
and  vertigo.  For  the  time  of  his  clouded  state  of  con- 
sciousness he  had  but  an  obscure,  dreamy  memory. 

It  was  only  after  a  time  that  sexual  ideas  and  impulses 
had  become  associated  with  these  apprehensive,  cloudy 
states  of  consciousness.  Years  ago,  in  such  states,  with- 
out motive  and  with  great  danger,  he  had  deserted;  once 
he  had  jumped  from  a  third-story  window;  on  another 
occasion  he  had  left  a  good  position  to  wander  about  aim- 
lessly in  a  neighbouring  country,  where  he  was  at  once 
arrested  for  exhibition. 

When  outside  of  his  abnormal  periods,  L.  once  became 
intoxicated,  there  was  no  exhibition.  In  the  lucid  state 
his  sexual  feeling  and  intercourse  were  perfectly  normal 
(Dr.  Hotzen,  ''Friedreich's  Blatter,''  1890,  Heft  6). 

A  clinical  group  that  very  nearly  approaches  the  epi- 
leptic exhibitionists  is  made  up  of  certain  neurasthenic 
individuals,  in  whom,  likewise,  there  may  occur  attacks 
(epileptoid  ?)  of  imperfect  consciousness^  in  connection 
with  a  feeling  of  apprehensive  oppression;  and  with  this 
sexual  impulses  may  be  associated,  resulting  in  acts  of 
exhibition  having  an  impulsive  character. 

Case  204.  Dr.  S.,  academic  teacher,  had  aroused 
public  indignation  by  being  seen  repeatedly  running  about 
in  the  Zoological  Garden  at  Berlin,  before  ladies  and  chil- 
dren, with  his  genitals  hanging  out.  S.  admitted  this, 
but  denied  all  thought  or  consciousness  of  causing  public 
offence,  and  excused  himself  by  saying  that  his  running 
about  with  exposed  genitals  afforded  him  relief  from  ner- 
vous excitement.  Mother's  father  was  insane,  and  died 
by  suicide;  his  mother  was  constitutionally  neuropathic, 
a  somnambulist,  and  had  been  temporarily  insane.  He 

^  Cf.  V.  Kraff  t,  "  Ueber  transitorisches  Irresein  bei  Neurasthen- 
ischen,"  "  Irrenf  reund,"  1883,  No.  8;  and  "Wiener  klin.  Woehen- 
Bchr./'  1891,  No.  50. 


512 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXITALIS, 


was  neuropathic,  had  been  a  sonrnambnlist,  and  had  had 
continuous  aversion  to  sexual  intercourse  with  females. 
In  his  youth  he  practised  onanism.  He  was  a  neuras- 
thenic man,  shy,  torpid  and  easily  became  embarrassed  and 
confused.  He  was  sexually  always  much  excited.  Fre- 
quently he  dreamed  that  he  was  running  about  with  ex- 
posed genitals,  or  that,  dressed  only  in  a  shirt,  he  hung 
from  a  horizontal  bar  with  his  head  downward,  so  that  the 
shirt  fell  down,  exposing  his  erected  penis.  His  dreams 
would  induce  pollution,  and  he  would  then  have  rest  for  a 
few  days  or  an  entire  week. 

In  his  waking  state  also  the  impulse  would  often 
come  upon  him,  just  as  in  his  dreams,  to  run  about  with 
.exposed  genitals.  As  he  was  about  to  expose  himself,  he 
would  become  very  hot,  and  then  he  would  run  aimlessly 
about.  The  member  would  become  moist  with  secretion, 
but  pollution  was  never  induced.  Finally,  when  it  had 
become  flaccid,  he  would  put  it  up,  and  then  come  to 
himself,  glad  if  no  one  had  seen  him.  In  such  conditions 
of  excitement  Tie  seemed  to  he  in  a  dream;  as  if  intoxicated. 
He  had  never  had  the  intention  to  offend  women.  S.  was 
not  epileptic.  His  declarations  had  the  impress  of  truth. 
He  had  actually  never  followed  or  spoken  to  women  while 
in  this  condition.  Frivolity  and  coarseness  were  excluded. 
1^0  doubt  S.'s  act  was  due  to  pathological  sensation  and 
idea,  and  S.  was  in  a  condition  of  pathological  disturbance 
of  mental  action  at  the  time  of  the  commission  of  his  acts 
(Liman,  '^Vierteljahrsschrift  fiir  gerichtl.  Med.,''  'N.  F. 
XXX.  viii..  Heft  2). 

Case  205.  X.,  aged  thirty-eight ;  married ;  father  of 
one  child.  Always  sullen  and  silent.  Suffered  frequently 
with  headache.  Very  neurasthenic,,  though  not  insane. 
He  was  troubled  much  at  night  by  pollutions.  He  had 
repeatedly  followed  shop-girls,  for  whom  he  had  lain  in 
wait,  exposing  and  handling  his  genitals.  In  one  case  he 
even  followed  a  girl  into  a  shop  (Trochon,  ^^Arch.  de  Tan- 
thropologie  criminelle,"  iii.,  p.  256). 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


513 


In  the  following  case  the  exhibition  seems  subsidiary 
to  the  impulsive  desire  to  satisfy  sudden,  intense  libido  by 
means  of  masturbation : — 

Case  206.  R.,  coachman,  aged  forty-nine;  Vienna; 
married  since  1866;  childless.  Father  neuropathic  and 
given  to  sexual  excesses;  died  of  cerebral  disease.  He 
presented  no  degenerative  signs. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  suffered  a  severe  concus- 
sion  by  falling  from  a  height.  Up  to  that  time  the  vita 
sexualis  had  been  normal.  Since  then,  however,  every 
three  or  four  months  he  had  been  seized  with  very  painful 
sexual  excitement,  accompanied  by  an  intense  desire  to 
masturbate.  A  feeling  of  weariness  and  discomfort,  with 
a  desire  for  alcoholic  indulgence,  preceded  this.  In  the 
intervals  he  was  sexually  cold,  and  had  but  very  infrequent 
desire  for  his  wife,  who,  moreover,  for  five  years  had  been 
sick  and  incapable  of  cohabitation. 

He  gave  the  assurance  that,  as  a  young  man,  he  never 
masturbated,  and  that,  in  the  intervals  between  his  attacks, 
he  had  never  thought  of  satisfying  himself  sexually  in  this 
way. 

The  impulse  to  masturbate  during  the  attack  was  al- 
ways excited  by  certain  feminine  charms — short  cloak, 
pretty  foot  and  ankle,  elegant  appearance.  Age  made  no 
difference ;  even  little  girls  excited  him.  The  impulse  was 
sudden  and  unconquerable.  R.  described  the  situation  and 
act  as  characteristically  impulsive.  He  had  often  tried  to 
resist  it ;  but  then  he  would  grow  hot,  terribly  frightened, 
his  head  would  burn,  and  he  would  seem  to  be  in  a  fog; 
but  he  never  lost  consciousness.  At  the  same  time  he 
would  have  violent,  darting  pain  in  the  testicles  and  sper- 
matic cords.  He  regretted  it,  but  had  to  confess  that  the 
impulse  was  stronger  than  his  will.  In  such  a  situation 
it  forced  him  to  masturbate,  no  matter  where  he  might 
be.  After  ejaculation  he  would  become  calm,  and  regain 
his  self-control.  He  regarded  it  as  a  terrible  affliction. 
Defence  showed  that  K.  had  been  punished  six  times  for 

33 


514 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


similar  offences — exhibition  and  masturbation  in  the  open 
street.  Although  an  examination  into  his  mental  condi- 
tion by  experts  was  demanded  by  his  counsel,  the  court 
refused  it  on  the  ground  that  the  proceedings  had  raised 
no  doubt  as  to  his  responsibility. 

On  4th  November,  1889,  E.,  while  in  his  worst  condi- 
tion, happened  to  be  in  the  street  as  a  crowd  of  school- 
girls went  by.  This  awakened  his  unconquerable  impulse. 
There  was  not  time  to  run  to  a  closet,  he  was  too  excited. 
There  was  immediate  exhibition,  masturbation  in  front  of 
a  house — great  scandal  and  immediate  arrest.  E.  was  not 
weak-minded,  and  had  no  ethical  defect.  He  bemoaned 
his  fate,  deeply  regretted  his  act,  and  feared  new  attacks. 
He  regarded  his  condition  as  abnormal — as  a  fate  against 
which  he  thought  he  was  powerless. 

He  thought  himself  still  virile.  Penis  abnormally  large. 
Cremasteric  reflex  present;  patellar  reflex  increased. 
Weakness  of  the  sphincter  of  the  bladder,  that  had  existed 
for  some  years.   Various  neurasthenic  difiiculties. 

The  opinion  showed  that  R.  was  subject  to  the  influ- 
ence of  abnormal  conditions,  and  had  acted  impulsively. 
Patient  was  sent  to  an  asylum,  from  which  he  was  dis- 
charged after  a  few  months. 

I 

In  the  foregoing  case  the  important  point,  clinically, 
lies  not  in  the  neurosis  that  is  present,  but  rather  in  the 
impulsive  character  of  the  act  (exhibition  dependent  on 
masturbation). 

With  the  enumeration  of  the  categories  of  imbeciles, 
of  mentally  weakened  individuals,  and  of  the  exhibition- 
ists that  are  in  a  neurotic  (epileptic  or  neurasthenic)  state 
of  benumbed  consciousness,  apparently  the  clinical  and  for- 
ensic side  of  this  phenomenon  is  still  unexhausted;  in 
addition  to  these,  there  is  another  class,  the  represent- 
atives of  which^  owing  to  deep  hereditary  taint  (hereditary 
degenerative  neurosis?) ,  are  impelled  to  periodical  and 
very  impulsive  exhibition. 

With  reference  to  these  conditions  of  psychopathia 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


515 


sexualis  periodica  (cf.  "Periodical  Insanity/')  in  which  the 
accidentally  awakened  impulse  to  exhibition  is  but  a  par- 
tial manifestation  of  a  clinical  whole,  like  in  dipsomania 
periodica  the  craving  for  drink,  Magnan^  from  whom  I 
borrow  the  following  instructive  cases,  justly  lays  the 
greatest  stress  upon  the  impulsive,  periodical  feature  of 
these  abnormal  impulses;  and  no  less  upon  the  fact  that 
they  are  often  accompanied  by  terrible  anxiety,  which, 
after  the  realisation  of  the  impulse,  gives  place  to  a  feeling 
of  relief. 

These  facts,  and,  no  less,  the  clinical  picture  of  de- 
generacy that,  for  the  most  part,  is  referable  to  injurious 
conditions  that  are  hereditary,  or  that  exercise  an  in- 
jurious effect  on  the  development  of  brain  in  early  years 
(rachitis,  etc.,)  are,  medico-legally,  of  decisive  importance. 

Case  207.  G.,  aged  twenty-nine,  waiter  in  a  cafe. 
In  1888,  while  standing  under  a  church-door,  he  exhibited 
himself  to  several  girls  working  opposite.  He  confessed 
the  act,  and  also  that,  many  times,  in  the  same  place  and 
at  the  same  time  of  day,  he  had  been  guilty  of  the  same 
crime,  having  been  punished  for  it  the  year  before  with 
imprisonment  for  one  month. 

G.  had  very  nervous  parents.  His  father  was  mentally 
unstable  and  very  irascible.  His  mother  was  at  times  in- 
sane, and  suffered  with  severe  neurotic  affection. 

G.  had  always  had  nervous  twitching  of  the  face,  and 
constant  alternation  of  causeless  depression,  with  icedium 
vitce,  and  periods  of  elation.  At  the  ages  of  ten  and  fifteen, 
for  slight  cause,  he  wished  to  commit  suicide.  When  ex- 
cited, he  had  similar  twitching  of  the  extremities.  He 
presented  constant  general  analgesia.  In  prison  he  was  at 
first  beside  himself  with  shame  about  the  disgrace  he  had 
brought  on  his  family,  and  said  he  was  the  worst  of  men, 
deserving  the  severest  punishment. 

Until  his  nineteenth  year  G.  had  satisfied  himself  with 

* "  Recherches  sur  les  Centres  Nerveux,"  2e  s^rie,  Paris,  1893. 


516 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXtTALIS. 


solitary  and  mutual  masturbation,  and,  on  one  occasion, 
he  had  practised  onanism  with  a  girl.  From  that  time, 
working  in  a  cafe,  the  female  customers  had  excited  him 
so  intensely  that  ejaculation  was  often  induced.  He  suf- 
fered with  almost  constant  priapism,  and,  as  his  wife 
stated,  in  spite  of  coitus,  it  often  disturbed  his  rest  at 
night.  For  seven  years  he  had  repeatedly  exhibited  him- 
self at  his  window,  and  also  exposed  himself  naked  to 
female  neighbours  living  opposite. 

In  1883  he  married  for  love.  Marital  intercourse  did 
not  satisfy  his  needs.  At  times  his  sexual  excitement  was 
so  intense  that  he  had  headache,  and  seemed  confused, 
like  one  drunk,  strange  and  incapable  of  work. 

In  one  of  these  attacks  he  had  recently  exhibited  him- 
self before  ladies  in  two  streets  of  Paris  (12th  May,  1887). 
Since  then  he  was  fighting  a  desperate  battle  against 
these  morbid  impulses  which  had  now  become  almost  per- 
manent, and  when  at  their  height  made  him  morose  and 
confused,  and  caused  him  to  weep  all  night.  In  spite  of 
all  efforts  he  backslided  again  and  again.  Opinion:  Proof 
of  hereditary  degeneration  with  delusions  and  irresistible 
impulses  (^^perversion  delirante  du  sens  genital").  Par- 
don (Magnan,  ^^Arch.  de  1' anthropologic  criminelle,"  v., 
28). 

Case  208.  B.,  aged  twenty-seven;  of  neuropathic 
mother  and  alcoholic  father.  He  had  one  brother  who 
was  a  drinker;  and  a  hysterical  sister.  Four  blood  rela- 
tions on  paternal  side  were  drunkards,  one  female  cousin 
is  hysterical. 

After  his  eleventh  year,  onanism,  solitary  or  mutual. 
After  his  thirteenth  year,  impulses  to  exhibition.  He  at- 
tempted it  at  a  street  urinal;  he  felt  pleasure  in  it,  but 
also  immediately  twinges  of  conscience.  If  he  attempted 
to  oppose  his  impulse  thereafter,  he  became  apprehensive, 
and  had  a  feeling  of  oppression  in  his  chest.  When  a 
soldier,  he  was  often  impelled  to  expose  himself,  under 
various  pretexts,  to  his  comrades. 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


51T 


After  his  seventeenth  year  he  had  sexual  congress  with 
women.  It  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  show  himself 
naked  before  them.  He  continued  his  exhibition  on  the 
street.  Since  he  could  but  infrequently  count  on  female 
spectators  at  urinals,  he  changed  his  place  to  churches. 
In  order  to  exhibit  himself  at  such  places,  he  always  had 
to  strengthen  his  courage  by  drinking.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  spirits,  the  impulse,  at  other  times  controllable 
with  difficulty,  became  irresistible.  He  was  not  sentenced. 
He  lost  his  position,  and  then  drank  more.  Not  long 
after,  he  was  again  arrested  for  exhibition  and  mastur- 
bation in  a  church  {Magnan,  ibid.^). 

Case  209.  X.,  aged  thirty-five;  barber^s  assistant. 
Repeatedly  punished  for  offence  against  decency,  he  waa 

again  arrested;  for,  during  three  weeks  he  had  been 
hanging  around  girls'  schools,  trying  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  pupils,  and,  when  he  had  succeeded  in 
this,  had  exhibited  himself.  Occasionally  he  had  promised 
them  money,  with  the  words,  ^^Habeo  mentulam  pulcher- 
rimam,  venite  ad  me  ut  cam  lambatis". 

At  his  examination  X.  confessed  everything,  but  did 
not  know  how  it  had  come  about.  He  was  the  most 
reasonable  of  men  in  other  respects,  but  had  the  impulse 
to  commit  this  crime,  and  could  not  overcome  it. 

In  1879,  when  in  the  army,  he  was  once  out  on  leave, 
and  had  run  around  exhibiting  himself  to  children:  im- 
prisonment for  a  year.  The  same  crime  in  1881.  He 
chased  the  crying  children,  and  "stared"  at  them:  im- 
prisonment of  one  year  and  three  months.  Two  days 
after  his  discharge,  he  said  to  two  little  girls:  "Si  men- 
tulam meam  videre  vultis  mecum  in  banc  tabernam  veni- 
atis".  He  denied  these  words,  and  claimed  drunkenness; 
imprisonment  for  three  months. 

In  1883  renewed  exhibition;  during  the  act  he  said 
nothing.   At  his  examination  he  stated  that,  since  a  severe 

*  Analogous  case :  Boissier  et  Lachaux,  "  Archives  de  Neurologic," 
1S93,  October. 


518 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


illness,  eight  years  previously,  he  had  suffered  with  such 
excitations:  imprisonment  for  one  month. 

In  1884  exhibition  before  girls  in  a  churchyard;  again 
in  1885.  He  declared:  ^^I  understand  my  crime,  but  it 
is  like  a  disease.  When  it  comes  over  me,  I  cannot  keep 
from  such  acts.  It  sometimes  happens  that,  for  quite  a 
long  time,  I  am  free  from  these  inclinations."  Imprison- 
ment for  six  months. 

Discharged  on  12th  August,  1885,  he  had  a  relapse  on 
15th  August.  The  same  excuse  was  given.  This  time  he 
underwent  medical  examination.  The  examination  re- 
vealed no  mental  disturbance.  Sentenced  to  three  years. 
After  discharge,  a  series  of  new  exhibitions.  On  this 
occasion,  examination  revealed  the  following: — 

His  father  suffered  with  chronic  alcoholism,  and  was 
said  to  have  been  guilty  of  the  same  crime.  Mother  and 
a  sister  nervously  ill,  and  the  whole  family  of  excitable 
temperament. 

From  his  seventh  to  his  eighteenth  year  X.  suffered 
with  epileptic  convulsions.  First  cohabitation  at  sixteen; 
later,  gonorrhoea  and,  it  was  stated,  syphilis.  After  that, 
normal  sexual  intercourse  until  his  twenty-first  year.  At 
that  time  he  often  had  to  pass  a  playground,  and  at  times 
would  urinate  there;  and  it  happened  that  the  children 
watched  him  out  of  Curiosity. 

He  noticed,  occasionally,  that  being  watched  in  this 
manner  caused  him  sexual  excitement,  induced  erection 
and  even  ejaculation.  He  now  found  more  pleasure  in 
this  kind  of  sexual  gratification,  and  became  indifferent 
about  coitus ;  satisfying  himself  only  in  this  manner.  He 
felt  that  all  his  thought  was  ruled  by  this,  and  he  dreamed 
only  of  exhibitions,  with  pollutions.  His  attempts  to  con- 
trol his  impulse  became  more  and  more  ineffectual.  It 
came  over  him  with  such  force  that  he  noticed  nothing 
around  him,  and  saw  and  heard  nothing,  and  was  like  one 
^^devoid  of  reason" — like  '^a  bull  trying  to  butt  his  head 
through  a  wall". 

X.  had  an  abnormally  broad  head;  small  penis;  the 


OEFENCE  AGAIKST  MOBAS^ITY. 


619 


left  testicle  deformed.  Patellar  reflex  absent.  Symptoms 
of  neurasthenia,  especially  cerebral.  Frequent  pollutions. 
Por  the  most  part,  his  dreams  were  about  normal  coitus, 
only  infrequently  about  exhibition  before  little  girls. 

With  reference  to  his  sexual  acts,  he  stated  that  the 
impulse  to  seek  and  approach  little  girls  was  primary ;  only 
when  he  had  succeeded  earum  intentionem  in  sua  geni- 
talia nudata  transferre,  erectionem  et  ejaculationem  fieri. 
He  did  not  lose  consciousness  in  the  act.  After  it  he  was 
troubled  about  his  deed,  and,  if  undiscovered,  said  to 
himself,  ^^Once  more  I  have  escaped  the  authorities". 

In  prison  he  did  not  have  the  impulse;  there,  he  was 
troubled  only  with  dreams  and  pollutions.  In  freedom  he 
had  daily  sought  opportunity  to  satisfy  himself  with  ex- 
hibition. He  would  give  ten  years  of  his  life  to  be  free 
from  the  thing;  "this  life  of  constant  anxiety,  this  alter- 
nation between  freedom  and  imprisonment,  is  unendur- 
able". 

The  opinion  assumed  a  congenital  (  ?)  perversity  of  the 
sexual  instinct,  with  unmistakable  hereditary  taint,  neuro- 
pathic constitution,  asymmetry  of  cranium,  and  defective 
development  of  the  genitals. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  the  exhibition  began 
when  the  epilepsy  ceased;  so  that  one  might  think  of  a 
vicarious  phenomenon. 

The  sexual  perversity  developed,  with  predisposition, 
through  accidental  association  of  ideas  of  sexual  content 
(children  looking  at  him  urinating)  with  an  act  that,  in 
itself,  was  purposeless. 

The  patient  was  not  sentenced,  but  sent  to  an  asylum 
(Dr.  FreyeVj  "Zeitschr.  f.  Medicinalbeamte,"  3  Jahrg., 
'No.  8). 

Case  210.  At  nine  o'clock  at  night,  in  the  spring  of 
1891,  a  lady,  in  great  trepidation,  came  to  the  policeman 
in  the  city  park  of  X.,  with  the  statement  that  a  man, 
absolutely  naked  in  front,  had  approached  her  from  the 
shrubbery,  and  she  had  run  away  frightened.    The  officer 


520 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUAL.IS. 


went  at  once  to  the  place  indicated,  and  found  a  man, 
who  exposed  ventrem  et  genitalia  nuda.  He  attempted  to 
escape,  but  was  overtaken  and  arrested.  He  stated  that 
he  had  been  sexually  excited  by  alcohol,  and  had  been  on 
the  point  of  going  to  a  prostitute.  On  his  way  through 
the  park,  however,  he  recalled  the  fact  that  exhibition 
gave  him  much  greater  pleasure  than  was  afforded  him 
by  coitus,  in  which  he  seldom,  and  only  faute  de  mieuXj  in- 
dulged. After  drawing  up  his  shirt,  he  posted  himself  in 
the  shrubbery,  and  when  two  women  came  up  the  path  he 
approached  them  with  exposed  genitals.  In  such  exhibi- 
tion he  had  a  pleasurable  feeling  of  warmth,  and  the  blood 
mounted  to  his  head. 

The  accused  worked  in  a  factory,  and  his  employer 
stated  that  he  was  faithful,  thrifty,  sober  and  intelligent. 

In  1886  B.  had  been  punished  because  he  had  twice 
exhibited  himself  publicly, — once  in  broad  daylight  and 
once  at  night,  under  a  street  lamp. 

B.,  age  37,  single,  made  a  peculiar  impression  owing 
to  his  dandified  dress  and  affected  manner.  His  eyes 
had  a  neuropathic,  languishing  expression;  around  his 
mouth  played  a  smile  of  self-satisfaction.  He  was  said  to 
come  of  healthy  parents.  A  sister  of  his  father  and  one 
of  his  mother's  were  insane.  Others  of  their  relatives 
were  thought  religiously  eccentric. 

B.  had  never  had  any  severe  illness.  From  childhood 
he  was  eccentric  and  imaginative.  He  loved  romances 
about  knights  and  others,  was  entirely  absorbed  by  them, 
and  even  went  so  far  as  to  identify  himself  in  fancy  with 
the  heroes.  He  always  thought  himself  a  little  better 
than  others,  and  thought  much  of  elegant  dress  and 
ornaments;  and  when  he  strutted  about  on  Sundays  he 
imagined  himself  a  high  official. 

B.  had  never  shown  epileptic  symptoms.  In  youth 
moderate  indulgence  in  masturbation;  later,  moderate 
indulgence  in  coitus.  Previously,  never  any  perverse 
sexual  feelings  or  impulses.  Retired  manner  of  life;  in 
leisure  hours,  reading  (popular  novels,  heroic  tales,  Dumas 


OFITEiq^CE  AGAINST  MORALITY 


521 


and  others).  B.  was  not  a  drinker.  Exceptionally  he 
made  himself  a  kind  of  punch,  by  which  he  was  always 
excited  sexually. 

For  some  years,  with  marked  decrease  of  libido^  after 
such  alcoholic  indulgence,  he  had  developed  the  ^^accursedly 
silly  thought"  and  the  desire  genitalia  adspectui  femin- 
arum  publice  exhibere. 

If  he  got  into  this  state  he  felt  warm,  his  heart  beat 
violently,  blood  rushed  to  his  head,  and  he  could  then  no 
longer  resist  the  impulse.  He  heard  and  saw  nothing 
more,  and  was  absolutely  absorbed  in  his  lust.  Afterward 
he  had  often  pounded  his  crazy  head  with  his  fists,  and 
firmly  resolved  never  to  do  such  a  thing  again;  but  the 
crazy  ideas  had  always  returned. 

In  his  exhibition  his  penis  became  only  half-erected, 
and  ejaculation  never  occurred;  even  in  coitus  it  was  al- 
ways tardy.  In  exhibition  he  was  satisfied  with  genitalia 
suo  adspicere,  and  he  had  the  lustful  thought  that  this 
sight  must  be  very  pleasant  to  women,  since  he  himself 
liked  so  much  to  see  genitalia  feminarum.  He  was  capable 
of  coitus  only  when  the  puella  showed  herself  very  partial 
to  him;  without  this  he  preferred  rather  to  pay  and  go 
without  doing  anything.  In  his  dreams  he  exhibited  him- 
self to  young,  voluptuous  women. 

The  medico-legal  opinion  recognised  the  hereditary 
psychopathic  character  of  the  culprit,  and  the  perverse, 
impulsive  desire  to  perform  the  incriminating  acts;  and 
pointed  out,  further,  the  remarkable  fact  that  in  B.,  who 
was  otherwise  sober  and  saving,  the  impulses  to  indulge 
in  alcohol  depended  on  abnormal  conditions  that  recurred 
periodically  and  forced  him  to  indulge.  That,  during  his 
attacks,  B.  was  in  an  exceptional  psychical  state,  in  a  kind 
of  mental  confusion,  and  absolutely  absorbed  in  his  per- 
verse sexual  fancy,  was  clearly  shown  by  the  species  facti. 
Thus  was  explained  the  fact  that  he  became  aware  of  the 
approach  of  the  police  only  when  it  was  too  late  to  try 
to  escape.  In  this  hereditary  and  degenerate  impulsive 
exhibitionism,  it  is  interesting  to  note  how  the  perverse 


522 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sexual  impulse  is  awakened  from  its  latency  by  the  in- 
fluence of  alcohol. 

The  foregoing  cases  seem  to  justify  the  assumption  of 
a  psycho-pathological  meaning  of  ^^exhibition"  in  the  sense 
of  sexual  demonstration. 

A  forensically  important  variety  of  exhibition,  which, 
clinically  speaking,  rests  for  certain  upon  a  similar  neu- 
rotic and  degenerate  foundation,  and  which  expresses  itself 
in  a  peculiar  act,  conditioned  by  violent  libido  (hypercBS- 
thesia  sexualis)^  associated  with  diminished  virility,  is 
made  up  of  the  so-called  frotteurs. 

The  three  following  cases,  borrowed  from  Magnan  (op. 
cit.)y  are  typical: — 

Case  211.  D.,  age  forty-four;  hereditarily  predis- 
posed; drinker,  and  suffering  with  lead  poisoning.  Until 
the  last  year  he  had  masturbated  much,  and  often  drawn 
pornographic  pictures  and  shown  them  to  his  acquaint- 
ances. He  had  repeatedly  dressed  himself  as  a  woman  in 
secret. 

For  two  years,  after  becoming  impotent,  he  had  felt 
desire,  while  in  crowds  at  dusk,  mentulam  denudare 
eamque  ad  nates  mulieris  crassissime  terere.  Once,  when 
discovered  in  the  act,  he  had  been  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment for  four  months. 

His  wife  kept  a  milk-shop.  Iterum  iterumque  sibi 
temperare  non  potuit  quin  genitalia  in  ollam  lacte  com- 
pletam  mergeret.  In  the  act  he  felt  lustful  pleasure,  "as 
if  touched  with  velvet".  He  was  cynical  enough  to  use 
this  milk  for  himself  and  the  customers.  During  im- 
prisonment alcoholic  persecutory  insanity  developed  in 
him. 

Case  212.  M.,  age  thirty-one;  married  six  years; 
father  of  four  children;  badly  predisposed;  subject  to 
melancholia  at  times.  Three  years  before,  he  was  dis- 
covered by  his  wife  with  a  silk  dress  on,  masturbating. 


OFFENCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


523 


One  day  he  was  discovered,  in  a  shop,  in  the  act  of  frot- 
tage  on  a  lady.  He  was  very  repentant,  and  asked  to  be 
severely  punished  for  his  irresistible  impulse. 

Case  213.  G.,  age  thirty-three;  badly  predisposed 
hereditarily.  At  an  omnibus  station  he  was  discovered 
in  the  act  of  froUage  with  his  penis  on  a  lady.  Deep  re- 
pentance; but  he  stated  that  at  the  sight  of  a  noticeable 
posteriora  of  a  lady,  he  was  irresistibly  impelled  to  practise 
frottage,  and  that  he  became  confused  and  knew  not  what 
he  did.     Sent  to  an  asylum. 

Case  214.  A  froUeur.  Z.,  born  in  1850 ;  of  blame* 
less  life  previously;  of  good  family;  private  official.  He 
was  well  to  do  financially ;  untainted.  After  a  short  mar- 
ried life  he  became  a  widower,  in  1873.  For  some  time 
he  had  attracted  attention  in  churches,  because  he  crowded 
up  behind  women,  both  old  and  young  indifferently,  and 
toyed  with  their  ^^bustles'\  He  was  watched,  and  one  day 
he  was  arrested  in  the  act.  Z.  was  terribly  frightened, 
and  in  despair  about  his  situation;  and,  in  making  a  full 
confession,  he  begged  for  pardon,  for  nothing  but  suicide 
remained  for  him. 

For  two  years  he  had  been  subject  to  the  unhappy 
impulse  to  go  in  crowds  of  people — in  churches,  at  box- 
offices  of  theatres,  etc. — and  press  up  behind  females  and 
manipulate  the  prominent  portion  of  their  dresses,  thus 
producing  orgasm  and  ejaculation. 

Z.  stated  that  he  was  never  given  to  masturbation, 
and  had  never  been  in  any  way  perverse  sexually.  Since 
the  early  death  of  his  wife,  he  had  gratified  his  great 
sexual  desire  in  temporary  love-affairs,  having  always  had 
an  aversion  for  prostitutes  and  brothels.  The  impulse  to 
frottage  had  suddenly  seized  him,  two  years  ago,  while  he 
happened  to  be  in  church.  Though  he  was  conscious 
that  it  was  wrong,  he  could  not  help  yielding  to  it 
immediately.  Since  then  he  had  been  excitable  to  the 
posteriora  of  females,  and  had  been  actually  impelled  to 


524 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


seek  opportunity  for  froUage.  The  only  thing  on  women 
that  excited  him  was  the  ^^bustle'';  every  other  part  of 
the  body  and  attire  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him; 
neither  did  he  mind  whether  the  woman  was  old  or  young, 
beautiful  or  ugly.  Since  this  began,  he  had  had  no  more 
inclination  for  natural  gratification.  Of  late  frottage 
scenes  had  appeared  in  his  dreams. 

During  his  acts  he  was  fully  conscious  of  his  situation 
and  the  act,  and  tried  to  perform  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
attract  as  little  attention  as  possible.  After  his  act  he 
was  always  ashamed  of  what  he  had  done. 

The  medical  examination  revealed  no  sign  of  mental 
disease  or  mental  weakness,  but  symptoms  of  neurasthenia 
sexualis — ex  abstinentia  libidinosa  (  ?) — which  was  also 
proved  by  the  circumstance  that  even  the  mere  touch  of 
the  fetich  with  the  unexposed  genitals  sufficed  to  induce 
ejaculation.  Apparently  Z.,  weakened  sexually  and  dis- 
trusting his  virility,  and  yet  libidinous,  had  come  to  prac- 
tise frottage  by  having  the  sight  of  posteriora  femince  fall 
together  accidentally  with  sexual  excitement ;  and  this  asso- 
ciative combination  of  a  perception  with  a  feeling  per- 
mitted the  former  to  attain  the  significance  of  a  fetich. 

Whether  these  frotteurs  (if  considered  as  men  who 
in  consequence  of  disturbed  virility  have  become  either 
temporarily  or  permanently  hyper  sexually  degenerated) 
should  come  under  the  category  of  exhibitionists,  or  should 
be  classified  with  the  fetichists,  as  Gamier  does  (^^Leg 
fetichistes,''  p.  73),  can  hardly  be  decided  on  account  of  the 
limited  number  of  cases  thus  far  observed. 

The  point  whether  denudatio  genitalium  takes  place  or 
not,  cannot  affect  this  decision,  for  it  may  depend  in  the 
frotteur  on  the  intensity  of  the  orgasm  which  may  lead 
even  to  lustful  ecstasy,  or  also  from  external  circumstances 
favourable  to  this  loathsome  impulse.  The  very  fact  that 
up  till  now  in  pathological  fetichism  the  fetich  has  never 
had  reference  to  partes  genitales  or  the  surrounding  parts 
seems  to  upset  Gamier  s  theory  as  to  fetichism  of  nates 
femince  (of.  p.  218). 


OFFEJiTCE  AGAINST  MORALITY. 


525 


The  simplest  explanation  seems  to  be  that  ^'frottage* 
is  a  masturbatorial  act  of  a  hypersexual  individual  who 
is  uncertain  about  his  virility  in  corpore  femince.  This 
would  also  explain  the  motive  of  the  assault  being  made 
not  ad  anteriora  but  ad  posteriora  (cf.  case  211).  That 
fetichism  may  be  involved  seems  to  follow  from  case  212, 
which  clearly  proves  silk-f etichism.  Very  likely  the  lady 
in  question  wore  a  silk  gown,  and  the  indecent  attack  was 
directed  upon  the  dress,  not  the  nates.  In  case  214  the 
act  is  evidently  qualified  by  the  ^^bustle"  and  not  by  the 
particular  part  of  the  body. 

As  an  act  which  offends  public  morals,  and  which  is, 
therefore,  punishable,  the  violation  of  statues — a  whole 
series  of  cases  of  which  Moreau  (op.  cit.)  has  collected 
from  ancient  and  modern  times — may  be  enumerated  here. 
They  are,  unfortunately,  given  too  much  like  anecdotes 
to  allow  satisfactory  judgment  of  them.  They  always 
give  the  impression  of  being  pathological — like  the  story 
of  a  young  man  (related  by  Lucianus  and  St,  Clemens, 
of  Alexandria)  who  made  use  of  a  Venus  of  Praxiteles  for 
the  gratification  of  his  lust;  and  the  case  of  Clisyphus, 
who  violated  the  statue  of  a  goddess  in  the  Temple  of 
Samos,  after  having  placed  a  piece  of  meat  on  a  certain 
part.  In  modern  times,  the  ^^Journal  L'evenement''  of 
4th  March,  1877,  relates  the  story  of  a  gardener  who  fell 
in  love  with  a  statue  of  the  Venus  of  Milo,  and  was  dis- 
covered attempting  coitus  with  it.  At  any  rate,  these  cases 
stand  in  etiological  relation  with  abnormally  intense  libido 
and  defective  virility  or  courage,  or  lack  of  opportunity  for 
normal  sexual  gratification. 

The  same  thing  must  be  assumed  in  the  case  of  the 
so-called  ''voyeurs''^ — i.e.,  men  who  are  so  cynical  that 

^Dr.  Moll  calls  this  perversion  (?)  mixoscopia  (from  pL£$^Ci 
cohabitation;  and  okstctscv^  to  look).  Merzejewsky  in  his  "gyne- 
cologie  mMicol^gale,"  relates  the  case  of  an  old  Castellan  who,  in 
order  to  excite  himself,  made  his  servants  to  violate  women  and 
girls  in  his  presence.  (Ivankoio,  Archiv.  d'Anthropolog.  criminelle, 
xiii.,  p.  697.) 


526 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


they  seek  to  get  sight  of  coitus,  in  order  to  assist  their 
virility;  or  who  seek  to  have  orgasm  and  ejaculation  at 
the  sight  of  an  excited  woman.  Concerning  this  moral 
aberration,  which,  for  various  reasons,  cannot  be  further 
described  here,  it  will  suffice  to  refer  to  Coffignons  book, 
^^La  Corruption  a  Paris'\  The  revelations,  in  the  domain 
of  sexual  perversity,  and  also  perversion,  which  this  book 
makes,  are  horrible. 

2.  Rape  and  Lust-Murder. 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §§125,  127;  Austrian  Abridgment,  §192;  German 
Statutes,  §177.) 

By  the  term  rape,  the  jurist  understands  coitus,  out- 
side of  the  marriage  relation,  with  an  adult,  enforced  by 
means  of  threats  or  violence ;  or  with  an  adult  in  a  condi- 
tion of  defencelessness  or  unconsciousness;  or  with  a  girl 
under  the  age  of  fourteen  years.  Immissio  penis^  or,  at 
least,  conjunctio  memhrorum  (Schutze)  is  necessary  to 
establish  the  fact.  To-day,  rape  on  children  is  remarkably 
frequent.  Hofmann  (^^Ger.  Med.,'^  i.,  p.  155)  and  Tar- 
dieu  (^^ Attentats'')  report  horrible  cases. 

The  latter  establishes  the  fact  that,  from  1851  to  1875 
inclusive,  22,017  cases  of  rape  came  before  the  courts  in 
France,  and  of  these  17,657  were  committed  on  children. 

The  crime  of  rape  presumes  a  temporary,  powerful 
excitation  of  sexual  desire,  induced  by  excess  in  alcohol  or 
by  some  other  condition.  It  is  highly  improbable  that 
a  man  morally  intact  would  commit  this  most  brutal 
crime.  Lombroso  (GoUdammers  ^^Arch.")  considers  the 
majority  of  men  who  commit  rape  to  be  degenerate,  par- 
ticularly when  the  crime  is  done  on  children  or  old  women. 
He  asserts  that,  in  many  such  men,  he  has  found  actual 
signs  of  degeneracy. 

It  is  a  fact  that  rape  is  very  often  the  act  of  degenerate 
male  imbeciles,^  who,  under  some  circumstances,  do  not 
even  respect  the  bond  of  blood. 

^"Annal.  m^dieo-psycliol.,"  1849,  p.  515;  1863,  p.  57;  1864,  p. 
215;  1866,  p.  253. 


RAPE  AND  LUST-MUBDEK. 


627 


Cases  as  a  result  of  mania,  satyriasis  and  epilepsy  have 
occurred,  and  are  to  be  kept  in  mind. 

The  crime  of  rape  may  be  followed  by  the  murder  of 
the  victim/  There  may  be  unintentional  murder,  murder 
to  destroy  the  only  witness  of  the  crime,  or  murder  out  of 
lust  (v.  supra).  Only  for  cases  of  the  latter  kind  should 
the  term  lust-murder^  be  used. 

The  motives  of  lust-murder  have  been  previously  con- 
sidered. The  cases  given  in  illustration  are  characteristic 
of  the  manner  of  the  deed.  The  presumption  of  a  murder 
out  of  lust  is  always  given  when  injuries  of  the  genitals 
are  found,  the  character  and  extent  of  which  are  such  as 
could  not  be  explained  by  merely  a  brutal  attempt  at 
coitus;  and,  still  more,  when  the  body  has  been  opened, 
or  parts  (intestines,  genitals)  torn  out  and  are  wanting.^ 

Lust-murders  dependent  upon  psychopathic  conditions 
are  never  committed  with  accomplices. 

Case  215.  Weah-mindedness ;  epilepsy;  attempt  at 
rape;  murder.  On  the  evening  of  27th  May,  1888,  a  boy 
eight  years  old,  Blasius,  was  playing  with  other  children 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  village  of  S.  An  unknown 
man  came  along  and  enticed  the  boy  into  the  woods. 

The  next  day  the  boy's  body  was  found  in  a  ravine^ 
with  the  abdomen  slit  open,  an  incised  wound  in  the 
cardiac  region  and  two  stab-wounds  in  the  neck. 

Since,  on  21st  May,  a  man  answering  to  the  descrip- 
tion given  of  the  murderer  of  the  boy  had  attempted  to 
treat  a  six-year-old  girl  in  a  similar  manner,  and  had  only 
accidentally  been  prevented,  it  was  presumed  to  be  a  case 
of  lust-murder. 

It  was  proved  that  the  body  was  found  in  a  heap,  with 
only  the  shirt  and  jacket  on;  also  that  there  was  a  long 
incision  in  the  scrotum. 

Suspicion  fell  upon  a  farm-hand,  E. ;  but,  on  con- 

*  Cf,  the  cases  of  Tardieu,  "  Attentats,"  pp.  182-92. 

*  Cf.  Eoltzendorffy  "  Psychologie  des  Mords." 
'Tardieu,  "  Attentats,"  case  51,  p.  188. 


528 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


frontation  with  the  children,  it  was  not  possible  to  identify 
him  with  the  stranger  who  had  enticed  the  boy  into 
the  woods.  Besides,  with  the  help  of  his  sister,  he  proved 
an  alibi. 

The  nntiring  efforts  of  the  officers  brought  new  evi- 
dence to  light,  and  finally  E.  confessed.  He  had  enticed 
the  girl  into  the  woods,  thrown  her  down,  exposed  her 
genitals,  and  was  about  to  abuse  her;  but,  as  she  had  an 
eruption  on  her  head  and  was  crying  loudly,  his  desire 
cooled,  and  he  fled. 

After  he  had  enticed  the  boy  into  the  woods,  under 
the  pretext  of  showing  him  a  bird's  nest,  he  was  taken 
with  a  desire  to  abuse  him.  Since  the  boy  refused  to  take 
off  his  trousers,  he  did  it  for  him ;  and  when  the  boy  began 
to  cry  out  he  stabbed  him  twice  in  the  neck.  Then  he 
made  an  incision,  just  above  the  pubes,  in  imitation  of 
female  genitals,  in  order  to  use  it  to  satisfy  his  lust.  But, 
since  the  body  grew  cold  immediately,  he  lost  his  desire, 
and,  cleaning  his  knife  and  hands  near  the  body,  he  fled. 
When  he  saw  the  boy  dead,  he  was  filled  with  fear,  and 
his  member  became  flaccid. 

During  his  examination  E.  toyed  apathetically  with  a 
rosary.  He  had  acted  in  a  state  of  mental  weakness. 
He  could  not  understand  how  he  came  to  do  such  a  thing. 
He  must  have  been  beside  himself;  for  he  often  became 
so  weak  in  his  head  that  he  would  almost  fall  down. 
Previous  employers  report  that  he  had  periods  when  he 
was  confused  and  stubborn,  doing  no  work  all  day,  and 
avoiding  others. 

His  father  stated  that  E.  learned  with  difficulty,  was 
unskilful  at  work,  and  often  so  obstinate  that  one  did 
not  dare  to  punish  him.  At  such  times  he  would  not  eat, 
and  occasionally  ran  away  and  remained  from  home  for 
days.  At  such  times  he  also  seemed  quite  lost  in  thought, 
screwed  his  face  up,  and  said  senseless  things. 

When  a  youth,  he  still  sometimes  wetted  the  bed,  and 
often  came  home  from  school  with  wet  or  soiled  clothing. 
He  was  very  restless  in  sleep,  so  that  no  one  could  sleep 


EAPB  AND  LUST-MURDER. 


529 


beside  him.  He  had  never  had  playmates.  He  had  never 
been  cruel,  bad,  or  immoral. 

His  mother  gave  similar  testimony;  and  further,  that, 
in  his  fifth  year,  E.  had  convulsions  for  the  first  time, 
and  once  lost  the  power  of  speech  for  seven  days.  Some- 
time about  his  seventh  year  he  once  had  convulsions  for 
forty  days,  and  was  also  dropsical.  Later,  too,  he  was 
often  seized  in  sleep,  and  he  often  then  talked  in  his  sleep ; 
and  mornings,  after  such  nights,  the  bed  was  found  wet 
through. 

At  times  it  was  impossible  to  do  anything  with  him. 
Since  his  mother  did  not  know  whether  it  was  due  to 
viciousness  or  disease,  she  did  not  venture  to  punish  him. 

Since  the  convulsions  in  his  seventh  year,  he  had  failed 
so  in  mind  that  he  could  not  learn  even  the  common 
prayers ;  and  he  also  became  very  irascible. 

Neighbours,  persons  prominent  in  the  community,  and 
teachers  state  that  E.  was  peculiar,  weak-minded,  and 
irascible ;  that  at  times  he  was  very  strange,  and  apparently 
in  an  exceptional  mental  state. 

The  examinations  of  the  medical  experts  gave  the  fol- 
lowing results : — 

E.  was  tall,  slim,  and  poorly  nourished.  His  head 
measured  53  centimetres  in  circumference.  The  cranium 
was  rhombic,  and  in  the  occipital  region  flattened. 

His  expression  was  devoid  of  intelligence;  his  glance 
was  fixed,  expressionless ;  his  attitude  was  careless,  and  his 
body  was  bent  forward.  Movements  were  slow  and  heavy. 
Genitals  normally  developed.  E.'s  w^hole  appearance 
pointed  to  torpidity  and  mental  weakness. 

There  were  no  signs  of  degenerative  marks,  no  abnor- 
mality of  the  vegetative  organs,  and  no  disturbances  of 
motility  or  sensibility.  He  came  of  a  perfectly  healthy 
family.  He  knew  nothing  of  convulsions  or  of  wetting 
his  bed  at  night,  but  he  stated  that,  of  late  years,  he  had 
had  attacks  of  vertigo  and  loss  of  mind. 

At  first,  he  denied  the  murder  point  blank.  Later,  in 
great  contrition,  before  the  examining  judge,  he  confessed 


630 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


all,  and  gave  a  clear  motive  for  his  crime.  He  had  never 
had  such  a  thought  before. 

He  had  been  given  to  onanism  for  years;  he  even 
practised  it  twice  daily.  He  stated  that,  for  want  of 
courage,  he  had  never  ventured  to  ask  coitus  of  a  woman, 
though  in  dreams  such  scenes  exclusively  passed  before 
him.  Neither  in  dreams  nor  in  the  waking  state  had  he 
ever  had  perverse  instincts;  particularly  no  sadistic  or 
antipathic  sexual  feelings.  The  sight  of  the  slaughter  of 
animals  had  never  interested  him.  When  he  enticed  the 
girl  into  the  woods,  his  desire,  of  course,  was  to  satisfy 
his  lust  with  her;  but  how  it  happened  that  he  tried  such 
a  thing  with  a  boy,  he  could  not  explain.  He  thought 
he  must  have  been  out  of  his  mind  at  that  time.  The 
night  after  the  murder  he  could  not  sleep  on  account  of 
fear;  he  had  twice  confessed  already,  to  ease  his  con- 
science. He  was  only  afraid  of  being  hanged.  This 
should  not  be  done,  as  he  had  done  the  deed  in  a  weak- 
minded  condition. 

He  could  not  tell  why  he  had  cut  open  the  boy's 
abdomen.  It  had  not  occurred  to  him  to  grope  among 
the  intestines,  smell  them,  etc.  He  stated  that,  after  the 
attempt  on  the  girl  in  the  day  time,  and  in  the  night,  after 
the  murder  of  the  boy,  he  had  convulsions.  At  the  time  of 
his  crime  he  was  indeed  conscious,  but  he  had  given  no 
thought  to  what  he  was  doing. 

He  suffered  much  with  headache;  could  not  endure 
heat,  thirst,  or  alcohol;  there  were  times  when  he  was 
perfectly  confused.  The  test  of  his  intelligence  showed  a 
high  grade  of  weak-mindedness. 

The  opinion  (Dr.  Kautzner^  of  Graz)  showed  the  im- 
becility and  neurosis  of  the  accused,  and  made  it  probable 
that  his  crime,  for  which  he  had  only  a  general  recollec- 
tion, had  been  committed  in  an  exceptional  (pre-epileptic) 
mental  state,  qualified  by  the  neurosis.  Under  all  circum- 
stances, E.  was  considered  dangerous,  and  probably  would 
require  commitment  to  an  asylum  for  life. 


RAPE  AND  LUST-MURDER. 


531 


Case  216/  Rape  on  a  little  girl  hy  an  idiot.  Death 
of  the  victim. 

On  the  evening  of  the  3rd  of  September,  1889,  Anna, 
aged  ten  years,  daughter  of  a  labourer,  went  to  the  village 
chnrch,  distant  about  two  miles,  but  did  not  return.  The 
following  day  her  body  was  found  about  fifty  paces  from 
the  main  road,  in  a  copse.  The  face  was  turned  to  the 
ground;  the  mouth  was  gagged  with  moss;  signs  of  a 
criminal  assault  about  the  anus. 

Suspicion  fell  upon  a  young  labourer,  K.,  nineteen 
years  of  age,  because  he  had  on  the  1st  of  September 
attempted  to  entice  the  child  in  the  wood  when  she  was 
returning  from  church. 

K.  was  arrested.  At  first  he  denied  the  deed;  but 
afterwards  made  a  complete  confession.  He  had  strangled 
the  child,  and  when  she  stopped  kicking  and  resisting, 
actum  sodomiticum  in  ano  infantis  perpetravit. 

During  the  preliminary  examination  no  one  had  raised 
the  question  as  to  the  mental  condition  of  this  monster; 
in  consequence,  when  shortly  before  the  trial  counsel  de- 
fending him  asked  for  an  examination  of  the  mental  con- 
dition of  his  client,  his  request  was  refused  on  the  ground 
^^that  the  previous  proceedings  contained  nothing  which 
could  warrant  the  plea  of  insanity". 

By  accident,  counsel  for  the  defence  succeeded  in  es- 
tablishing the  fact  that  the  great  grandfather  and  the 
paternal  aunt  of  the  accused  had  been  insane;  that  the 
father  was  an  inveterate  alcoholist  since  earliest  youth 
and  a  cripple  on  one  side  of  the  body.  These  facts  were 
verified  during  the  trial. 

But  it  made  no  impression.  The  defence  finally  pre- 
vailed upon  the  medical  adviser  of  the  court  to  suggest 
that  K.  be  sent  for  observation  to  an  insane  asylum  for  a 
period  of  six  weeks. 

The  opinion  of  the  physician  at  the  institute  estab- 

^Cf.  the  complete  medico-legal  opinion  on  this  case  reported  in 
"  Friedreich's  Blatter/'  1891,  Heft  6. 


532 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


lished  K.'s  idiocy,  thus  rendering  him  irresponsible  for  his 
deed. 

He  appeared  insipid,  stolid,  apathetic;  had  forgotten 
nearly  all  he  had  ever  learned  at  school;  neither  by  voice 
or  mien  he  betrayed  the  slightest  emotions  of  compassion, 
contrition,  shame,  hope,  or  fear  of  the  future.  His  face 
was  immovable  as  a  mask. 

Head  quite  abnormal;  bullet-shaped.  Proof  that  the 
brain  v^as  diseased  already  during  the  foetal  period  or 
during  the  earliest  years  of  development. 

Upon  this  report  K.  was  permanently  interned  at  the 
asylum. 

Through  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  a  brave  lawyer 
the  court  was  saved  from  committing  a  judiciary  murder, 
and  the  honour  of  society  was  sustained. 

Case  217.  Lust-murder;  moral  imbecility.  A  man 
of  middle  age;  born  in  Algeria;  said  to  be  of  Arabic  de- 
scent. Had  served  for  several  years  in  the  colonial  troops ; 
had  then  shipped  as  a  sailor  between  Algeria  and  Brazil^ 
and  later  on,  in  the  hope  of  finding  lighter  employment, 
had  gone  to  l^orth  America.  He  was  known  among 
his  acquaintances  as  being  lazy,  cowardly  and  brutal. 
Several  times  he  had  been  sentenced  for  vagrancy;  it  was 
said  that  he  was  a  thief  of  the  lowest  kind;  that  he 
knocked  about  with  women  of  the  lowest  class,  and  made 
common  cause  with  them.  His  perverse  sexual  relations 
and  acts  were  also  well  known.  On  several  occasions  he 
had  bitten  and  beaten  women  with  whom  he  sexually 
conversed.  According  to  the  description  given  of  him, 
the  authorities  thought  they  had  secured  a  certain  un- 
known party  who  had  scared  at  night  the  women  in  the 
streets  by  embracing  and  kissing  them,  and  had  the  nick- 
name of  ^^Jack  the  Kisser^'. 

He  was  a  tall  man  (over  six  feet),  slightly  bent  for- 
ward. Low  forehead,  very  prominent  cheek  bones,  massive 
jawbones;  small,  narrow,  inflamed  eyes,  piercing  look; 
big  feet,  hands  like  birds'  claws;  shambling  gait.  His 


TORTURE  OF  ANIMALS  DEPENDENT  ON  SADISM.  533 

arms  and  hands  were  tattooed  all  over.  Remarkable  was 
the  picture  of  a  woman  in  colours,  around  which  the 
name  ^Tatima"  was  inscribed,  because  tattooing  the  fe- 
male form  upon  the  body  is  considered  to  be  disgraceful 
among  the  Arabs  of  the  Algerian  army;  and  prostitutes 
generally  have  a  cross  tattooed  in  their  skin.  His  general 
appearance  gave  the  impression  of  a  low  grade  of  intelli- 
gence. 

IT.  was  convicted  of  the  murder  of  an  elderly  female 
with  whom  he  had  spent  the  night.  The  corpse  bore 
various  wounds,  some  remarkable  for  their  length;  the 
abdomen  was  ripped  open,  pieces  of  the  intestines  were 
cut  out,  so  was  one  of  the  ovaries ;  other  parts  were  strewn 
around  about  the  corpse.  Several  of  the  wounds  were  like 
crosses ;  one  was  in  the  shape  of  a  crescent.  The  murderer 
had  strangled  his  victim.  He  denied  the  deed,  and  every 
inclination  to  commit  such  an  act  (Dr.  MacDonald,  Clark 
University,  Mass.). 

3.  Bodily  Injury,  Injury  to  Property,  Torture  of  Animals 
Dependent  on  Sadism. 

(Austrian,  §§  152,  411;  German,  §  223  [bodily  injury],  Austrian, 
§§  85,  468;  German,  §  303  [injury  to  property].  Austrian 
Police  Regulations ;  German  statutes,  §  360  [torture  of  ani- 
mals].) 

Aside  from  lust-murder,  described  in  the  foregoing 
section,  as  milder  expressions  of  sadistic  desires,  impulses 
to  stab,  flagellate  or  defile  females,  to  flagellate  boys,  to 
maltreat  animals,  etc.,  also  occur. 

The  deep  degenerative  significance  of  such  cases  is 
clearly  demonstrated  by  the  series  of  examples  given  under 
"General  Pathology".  Such  mentally  degenerate  indi- 
viduals, should  they  be  unable  to  control  their  perverse 
impulses,  could  only  be  objects  of  care  in  asylums. 

Case  218.  Sadism  on  hoys  and  girls  committed  hy 
&  moral  idiot. 

K.,  fourteen  years  and  five  months  old ;  killed  a  small 


534 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


boy  in  a  cruel  manner.  The  trial  developed  the  following 
details:  Two  cases  of  murder;  a  long  series  of  cases 
(seven)  in  which  K.  had  cruelly  tortured  little  boys.  All 
these  children  ranged  in  age  from  seven  to  ten  years.  K. 
would  lure  them  into  a  hidden  place,  strip  them  naked, 
bind  them  hand  and  foot,  tie  them  against  some  object, 
gag  the  mouth  with  a  handkerchief  and  then  beat  them 
with  a  stick,  a  strap  or  a  piece  of  rope,  slowly,  pausing 
for  minutes — ^grinning  all  the  time  without  uttering  a 
word.  One  of  the  boys  he  forced  under  threat  of  death 
to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  twice,  to  promise  under  oath 
secrecy  and  to  repeat  curse  words  and  oaths  after  him. 
In  another  instance  he  pricked  the  boy's  cheeks  with  a 
needle,  played  with  his  genitals,  and  stabbed  him  in  the 
pubic  region;  he  then  ordered  him  to  lie  on  his  stomach 
when  he  would  jump  on  his  back,  dancing  all  over  the 
body ;  finally  he  stabbed  him  in  the  nates  and  dug  his  teeth 
into  them.  Another  boy  he  bit  in  the  nose  and  stabbed 
him  with  a  knife. 

The  eighth  victim,  a  little  girl,  he  enticed  into  his 
mother's  shop,  fell  upon  her  from  behind,  and  clapping 
one  hand  over  her  mouth,  cut  her  throat  with  the  other. 
The  body  was  found  in  a  dark  corner,  covered  over  with 
ashes  and  manure.  The  head  was  severed  from  the  body, 
the  flesh  cut  away  from  the  bones,  the  whole  body  covered 
with  cuts  and  wounds.  The  largest  cut  was  on  the  inner 
side  of  the  left  thigh,  penetrating  through  the  genitals  into 
the  abdomen.  Another  cut  extended  from  the  fossa  iliaca 
obliquely  across  the  abdomen.  The  clothes  and  linen  were 
torn  and  cut  into  shreds. 

The  corpse  of  the  ninth  victim  was  found  with  the 
throat  cut  across,  blood  was  flowing  from  the  eyes,  the 
heart  was  pierced  by  innumerable  stabs.  A  number  of 
thrusts  were  found  in  the  abdomen.  The  scrotum  was 
ripped  open,  the  testicles  were  hanging  out,  and  the  glans 
penis  was  cut  off. 

K.  had  first  lured  the  boy  to  him  as  he  had  done  the 
little  girl,  cut  his  throat  and  then  stabbed  him  all  over. 


TORTUEB  OF  ANIMALS  DEPENDENT  ON  SADISM.  535' 

K.,  whose  hereditary  conditions  were  not  known,  had 
oeen  suffering  from  a  severe  illness  during  the  whole  of 
his  first  year's  existence,  and  thus  had  become  very  much 
emaciated.  He  began  to  recover,  and  it  is  claimed  that 
since  then  he  was  not  afflicted  with  bad  health,  excepting 
frequent  complaints  about  pain  in  the  head  and  eyes  and. 
vertigo,  until  he  was  eleven,  when  he  went  through  a  ^^se- 
vere  illness,"  which  made  him  delirious.  Headaches  would 
suddenly  seize  him,  so  that  he  would  run  away  from  play, 
and  return  only  after  a  considerable  interval.  When  asked 
on  such  occasions  about  his  conduct,  he  would  slowly  an- 
swer, "My  head,  my  head''. 

He  was  intractable,  disobedient  and  beyond  control. 
Showed  sudden  and  extreme  moods,  desires  and  opinions. 
When  three  years  old  he  was  one  day  seen  to  torture  a 
chicken  with  a  knife.  He  lied  with  every  appearance  of 
truth.  At  school  he  was  a  disturbing  element,  making 
faces,  constantly  talking  to  himself ;  was  obstinate  and  dis- 
respectful. Punishment  to  him  was  injustice ;  he  was  reni- 
tent.  In  the  house  of  correction  he  was  secluded,  preoccu- 
pied with  himself,  suspicious,  disliked  by  his  comrades — in 
fact  without  any  chum.  His  intellectual  powers  were  good ; 
he  possessed  sagacity,  reason  and  a  good  memory.  He 
showed  great  defect  in  the  ethical  direction.  He  betrayed 
not  the  slightest  signs  of  sorrow  or  penitence  for  his  deeds, 
or  the  least  consciousness  of  his  responsibility.  Only  for 
his  mother  he  seemed  to  have  a  sort  of  tender  feeling.  He 
could  assign  no  object  for  his  actions.  He  calmly  dis- 
cussed his  chances:  "they  would  not  condemn  him  to 
death  because  he  was  only  fourteen  years  of  age;  hereto- 
fore they  had  not  been  wont  to  hang  boys  of  his  age, 
and  surely  they  would  not  make  a  beginning  with  him". 
What  motive  he  had  in  his  deeds  cannot  be  ascertained 
from  him.  Once  he  said  that  reading  a  description  of 
the  tortures  visited  upon  their  victims  by  the  Red  Indiana 
had  tempted  him  to  imitate  them.  He  had  even  once 
thought  of  running  away  from  home  to  ioin  the  Indians. 


636 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXTJALIS. 


Whenever  he  espied  a  victim  his  imagination  would  be 
filled  with  pictures  of  cruel  actions. 

On  the  morning  of  such  days  he  would  always  wake 
up  with  vertigo  and  pressure  in  the  head,  which  condition 
would  last  all  day. 

As  physical  anomalies  only  an  exceptionally  large  penis 
and  very  big  testicles  are  mentioned.  Mons  veneris  com- 
pletely and  thickly  covered  with  hair ;  in  fact,  the  genitals 
were  fully  developed  like  those  of  an  adult.  'No  symptoms 
of  epilepsy  (Dr.  MacDonaldj  Clark  University,  Mass.). 

Case  219.  Sadism;  hodily  injury.  B.,  seventeen 
years  of  age,  tinsmith,  bought  on  the  4th  January,  1893, 
a  long  knife;  went  to  a  prostitute,  had  repeatedly  sexual 
intercourse  with  her,  gave  her  money,  and  made  her  sit 
undressed  on  the  edge  of  the  bed.  He  now  stabbed  her 
slightly  three  times  in  the  chest  and  abdomen  whilst  his 
membrum  was  erected.  When  the  girl  began  to  yell  and 
people  came  to  her  assistance,  B.  fled,  but  immediately 
gave  himself  up  to  the  police.  At  first  he  said  he  had 
stabbed  the  girl  in  a  quarrel,  but  afterwards  stated  he  had 
had  no  motive  for  his  deed.  Several  blood  relations  of 
his  father  had  been  insane.  B.  was  not  tainted,  not  a 
drunkard,  had  not  gone  through  any  severe  illness,  never 
masturbated,  but  had  practised  coitus  for  two  years. 
Genitals  normal.  Seemed,  under  observation,  mentally 
normal;  was  ashamed  of  his  action,  to  which  the  experts 
properly  ascribed  a  sexual  motive.  In  spite  of  definite 
proof  of  mental  sanity,  he  was  released  {Coutagne,  "Annal. 
med.  psych.,''  1893,  July,  Aug.). 

Case  220.  Ads  of  violence  emanating  from,  sadism. 
M.,  sixty  years  of  age,  owner  of  several  millions,  happily 
married,  father  of  two  daughters,  one  eighteen,  the  other 
sixteen  years  of  age,  was  convicted  of  seduction  of  minors 
and  acts  of  violence  on  females.  He  was  accustomed  to 
go  to  the  house  of  a  procuress,  where  he  was  known  as 
VJiomme  qui  pique ,  and  there,  lying  upon  a  sofa  in  a  pink 


TOETUBE  OF  ANIMALS  DEPENDENT  ON  SADISM.  637 

silk  dressing-gown,  lavishly  trimmed  with  lace,  would 
await  his  victims — puellas  tres  nudas.  They  had  to  ap- 
proach him  in  single  file,  in  silence  and  smiling.  They 
gave  him  needles,  cambric  handkerchiefs  and  a  whip. 
Kneeling  before  one  of  the  girls,  he  would  now  stick  about 
a  hundred  needles  in  her  body,  and  fasten  with  twenty 
needles  a  handkerchief  upon  her  bosom;  this  he  would 
suddenly  tear  away,  whip  the  girl,  tear  the  hair  from 
her  mons  veneris  and  squeeze  her  mammce^  etc.,  whilst  the 
other  two  girls  would  wipe  the  perspiration  from  his  fore- 
head and  strike  lascivious  plastic  attitudes.  ISTow  excited 
to  the  highest  pitch,  he  would  have  coitus  with  his  victim. 
Later  on,  for  the  sake  of  economy,  he  was  satisfied  to  per- 
form his  brutality  with  one  girl  alone.  This  girl  fell  in 
consequence  into  a  severe  illness,  and  in  her  distress  asked 
him  for  help.  He  reported  this  ^^extortion''  to  the  police, 
who,  on  their  part,  made  inquiries,  and  brought  a  charge 
against  him.  At  first  he  denied  the  facts,  but  convicted, 
expressed  his  surprise  that  such  a  fuss  should  be  made 
about  a  mere  trifle,  M.  was  described  as  a  man  of  re- 
pulsive appearance,  with  receding  forehead.  He  was  sen- 
tenced to  six  months'  imprisonment,  a  fine  of  200  francs, 
and  1000  francs  damages  to  his  victim  (^^ Journal  Gil 
Bias,"  Aug.  14  and  16,  1891). 

A  less  revolting  case,  that  of  a  young  man,  is  related 
by  Ferrioni,  ^^Archivio  delle  psicopatie  sessuali,''  i.,  p.  106, 
1896.  This  young  sadist  would  first  wrestle  with  the  girl 
in  order  to  bring  about  virility  and  would,  inter  actum,  bite 
and  pinch  her  in  order  to  produce  satisfaction.  But  one 
day  he  bit  the  girl  so  hard  that  she  brought  an  action 
against  him. 

Case  221.  Murder  through  sadism.  Married  man, 
at  the  time  of  this  crime  thirty  years  of  age.  He  had  lured 
a  girl  to  the  bell  tower  of  the  church  of  which  he  was 
the  sexton  and  there  killed  her.  Circumstantial  evidence 
forcing  him  to  admit  the  deed,  he  confessed  to  another 


538 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


similar  murder.  Both  corpses  showed  numerous  contu* 
sions  about  the  fleshy  parts  of  the  head,  fractures  of  the 
skull,  extravasations  under  the  dura  mater  and  in  the  brain. 
IsTo  other  bodily  injuries  were  found;  the  genital  organs 
were  intact. 

Spermal  stains  were  found  on  the  underwear  of  the 
criminal,  who  was  arrested  soon  after  the  deed  was 
committed.  L.  was  described  as  of  pleasing  appearance, 
of   dark  complexion,  beardless.  details  about  his 

hereditary  relations,  antecedents,  vita  sexualis  ante  acta, 
etc. 

His  motive,  according  to  his  own  admission,  was  ^lust 
of  the  cruellest  and  most  abominable  kind"  (Dr.  MacDon- 
aid,  Clark  University,  Mass.), 

GuilleheaUj^  Professor  at  the  Veterinary  College  at 
Berne,  has  collected  a  number  of  cases  of  horrible  sadistic 
acts  of  violence  on  dumb  brutes. 

1.  Injuries  to  the  vagina  in  six  cows.  Offender  un- 
known. 

2.  Mortal  injuries  on  four  calves  and  goats,  committed 
by  a  youth,  nineteen  years  of  age,  with  the  sharp  point  of  a 
stick.  He  had  become  an  imbecile  at  the  age  of  four 
through  meningitis.  He  confessed  that  the  act  was  one  of 
sexual  lust.    Considered  irresponsible. 

3.  Repeated  and  numerous  injuries  to  cows  and  goats 
in  the  anus  and  in  the  vagina,  by  a  stable-boy  (age  twenty- 
four)  with  a  stick.  He  confessed  that  when  milking  or 
otherwise  attending  the  animals  he  became  sexuallv  ex- 
cited,  had  violent  erections  and  sensations  of  fear.  At 
first  he  used  his  hand,  and  then  a  stick,  which  he  would 
introduce  into  the  orifice.  It  was  always  an  impulsive 
act  and  only  at  such  times  when  he  suffered  from  sleep- 
lessness and  nervous  and  sexual  excitement.  After  the 
act  he  was  always  tormented  by  pangs  of  conscience  but 
could  not  help  relapsing  into  the  same  fault.  Considered 
irresponsible. 

Schweizer  Archiv  f.  TMerheilkunde,  Heft  1,  Jahrg.  1889.) 


MASOCHISM  AND  SEXUAL  BOKDAGE,  539 


4.  A  similar  offence  (in  imitation  of  the  former)  in 
the  same  stable  by  a  feeble-minded  cowherd,  eighteen 
years  old,  on  the  rectum  of  an  ox. 

Case  222.  X.,  age  twenty-four.  Parents  healthy, 
two  brothers  died  from  tuberculosis,  one  sister  suffered 
from  periodical  fits.  X,  began  to  experience  at  the  age 
of  eight  pleasurable  feelings  with  erection  when  he  pressed 
his  abdomen  against  the  form  in  school.  He  often  did 
this.  Later  he  practised  mutual  masturbation  with  a 
schoolmate.  Pirst  ejaculation  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  In 
the  first  attempt  at  coitus  (when  eighteen)  he  was  im- 
potent. He  continued  auto-masturbation.  When  reading 
a  popular  book  describing  the  dreadful  consequences  of 
onanism,  he  became  very  neurasthenic.  A  water  cure 
brought  improvement,  but  a  second  attempt  at  coitus  proved 
a  fizzle.  Return  to  masturbation.  In  time  this  failed 
him,  too.  He  would  now  pick  up  a  living  bird  by  the  bill 
and  swing  it  around  in  the  air.  The  sight  of  the  tortured 
animal  provoked  erection  and  when  the  flapping  wing 
touched  his  penis,  ejaculation  would  ensue  with  enormous 
sexual  lust.  (Dr.  Wachholz^  Friedreich's  Blatter,  f. 
gerichtl.  Med.  1892,  6  Heft,  p.  336.) 

See  also,  Murder  through  Sadism.  Rivista  Sperimen- 
tale,  1897,  xxiii.,  p.  T02,  and  1898,  xxiv.,  fasc.  1. — Kdlle, 
ger.  psych.  Gutachten,  Fall  4.  p.  48. 

4.  Masochism  and  Sexual  Bondage. 

Masochism^  may  under  certain  circumstances  attain 
forensic  importance,  for  modern  criminal  law  no  longer 

*As  Herlst  ("Handb.  d.  osterr.  Strafrechts,  Wien,"  1878,  p.  72) 
remarks,  there  are,  nevertheless,  crimes  conditioned  by  the  absence  of 
assent  on  the  part  of  the  injured  individual  which  cease  to  be  such 
as  soon  as  the  injured  individual  has  given  consent — e.  g,,  theft,  rape. 

But  Eerhst  also  enumerates  here  the  limitation  of  personal 
freedom  ( ? ) . 

Of  late  a  decided  change  of  views  on  this  point  has  taken  place. 
The  German  criminal  law  regards  the  consent  of  a  man  to  his  own 


840 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


recognises  the  principle  volenti  non  fit  injuria,  and  the 
present  Austrian  statute  in  §  4  says  expressly:  ^^Crimes 
may  also  be  committed  on  persons  who  demand  their  com- 
mission on  themselves'^ 

Psychologically  speaking,  the  facts  of  sexual  hondage 
are  of  greater  criminal  importance  {of,  p.  181). 

If  sensuality  is  predominant,  or  in  other  words,  if  a 
man  is  held  in  fetich-thraldom  and  his  moral  power  of 
resistance  is  but  weak,  he  may  by  an  avaricious  or  vin- 
dictive woman  into  whose  bondage  his  passion  has  led  him 
be  goaded  on  to  the  very  worst  crimes.  The  following 
case  is  a  striking  instance : — 

Case  223.  Murder  of  a  family  through  sexual  hond- 
age. 3Sr.,  soap  manufacturer  in  Catania ;  thirty-four  years 
of  age;  previously  of  good  character;  stabbed  his  wife  in 
her  sleep  to  death  on  the  21st  of  December,  1886,  and 
strangled  his  two  daughters,  one  seven  years  and  the 
other  six  weeks  old.  At  first  he  denied  the  deed,  tried 
to  throw  suspicion  upon  others,  but  finally  confessed  to 
all  the  details  and  begged  to  be  hanged. 

N.  came  of  a  sound  family,  was  healthy  himself,  a 
good  business  man  and  highly  respected ;  married  well,  but 
for  several  years  was  under  the  fascinating  influence  of  a 
mistress  who  had  captivated  and  completely  controlled  him. 

He  had  kept  this  matter  a  secret  from  the  world  and 
his  wife. 

By  playing  on  his  jealousy  and  declaring  that  by 
marriage  alone  he  could  for  the  future  possess  her,  this 
monster  of  a  woman  had  brought  the  weak  and  infatuated 

to  become  the  murderer  of  his  wife  and  children. 

death  of  such  importance  that  a  very  different  and  much  milder 
punishment  is  inflicted  under  such  circumstances  (§  216)  ;  and  it  is 
the  same  in  Austrian  law  (Austrian  Abridgment,  §  222).  The  so- 
called  double  suicide  of  lovers  was  the  act  considered.  In  bodily 
injury  and  deprivation  of  freedom,  the  consent  of  the  victim  must 
also  receive  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  judge.  Certainly  a 
knowledge  of  masochism  is  of  importance  in  making  a  judgment  of 
the  probability  of  asserted  consent. 


MASOCHISM  AND  SEXUAL  BONDAGE.  541 


After  the  deed  he  had  induced  his  young  nephew  to  fetter 
him  as  if  he  himself  were  the  victim  of  the  villains  and 
under  the  threat  of  death  commanded  him  to  silence. 
When  the  neighbors  came  in  he  played  the  role  of  the 
unhappy,  maltreated  father. 

After  a  full  confession  he  showed  the  deepest  contri- 
tion. During  the  two  years  of  the  subsequent  trial,  N". 
never  showed  signs  of  mental  derangement. 

His  mad  love  for  the  mistress  he  could  only  explain 
as  an  infatuation.  He  never  had  cause  to  find  fault  with 
his  wife.  There  were  no  traces  of  abnormal  or  perverse 
sexual  instinct  in  this  exceptional  criminal.  His  sorrow 
and  contrition  over  the  deed  gave  sufficient  proof  that 
no  moral  defect  was  present.  His  mental  condition  was 
declared  to  be  sound.  Exclusion  of  irresistible  impulse 
(Madalari,  "11  morgagni/'  1890,  Feb.). 

Case  224.  Sexual  bondage  in  a  lady. 

Mrs.  X.,  thirty-six  years  of  age;  mother  of  four 
children.  Came  from  a  neuropathic  and  heavily-tainted 
mother.  Father  psychopathic.  She  began  to  masturbate 
at  the  age  of  five,  had  an  attack  of  melancholia  at  the 
age  of  ten,  during  which  period  she  was  troubled  with  the 
delusion  that  she  could  not  go  to  heaven  on  account  of 
her  sins.  This  made  her  nervous,  excitable,  emotional, 
neurasthenic.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  she  fell  in  love 
with  a  man  who  was  denied  her  by  her  parents.  She 
now  showed  symptoms  of  hysteria.  When  twenty-one 
she  married  a  man  by  many  years  her  senior  who  had 
but  little  sexual  appetite.  Her  conjugal  relations  wdth 
him  never  satisfied  her ;  coitus  produced  severe  erethismus 
genitalis  which  she  could  not  satisfy  with  masturbation. 
She  suffered  tortures  from  this  libido  insatiata^  yielded 
more  and  more  to  onanism,  became  heavily  hystero- 
neurasthenic,  capricious  and  quarrelsome,  so  that  marital 
relations  grew  ever  colder. 

After  nine  years  of  mental  and  physical  anguish,  Mrs. 
X.  succumbed  to  the  blandishments  of  another  man  in 


542 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


whose  arms  she  found  that  gratification  for  which  she 
had  so  long  languished. 

But  now  she  was  tormented  with  the  consciousness 
of  having  broken  her  marriage  vow,  often  feared  she 
would  become  insane,  and  only  the  love  for  her  children 
prevented  her  from  committing  suicide. 

She  scarcely  dared  to  appear  before  her  husband  whom 
she  highly  esteemed  on  account  of  his  noble  character, 
and  felt  dreadful  qualms  of  conscience  because  she  had 
to  conceal  the  awful  secret  from  him. 

Although  she  found  full  gratification  and  immense 
sensual  pleasure  in  the  arms  of  the  other  man,  she  had 
repeatedly  made  attempts  to  give  up  this  liaison.  Her 
efforts  were  in  vain.  She  got  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
bondage  of  this  man,  who  recognising  and  abusing  his 
power  had  merely  to  dissemble  as  if  he  would  leave  her 
in  order  to  possess  her  without  restraint.  He  abused  this 
bondage  of  the  miserable  woman  only  to  gratify  his  sexual 
appetite,  gradually  even  in  a  perverse  manner.  She  was 
unable  to  refuse  him  any  demand. 

When  Mrs.  X.  in  her  despair  came  to  me  for  prO' 
fessional  advice  she  declared  that  she  could  no  longer 
continue  such  a  life  of  misery  and  anguish.  An  insuper- 
able libido^  disgusting  to  herself,  drew  her  to  this  man, 
whom  she  could  not  love  but  as  little  do  without,  whilst 
on  the  other  hand  she  was  constantly  tormented  with  the 
danger  of  discovery,  and  with  self-reproach  on  account 
of  her  offence  against  the  law  of  God  and  man. 

The  greatest  mental  pain  was  caused  by  the  thought 
of  losing  her  paramour,  who  often  threatened  to  leave  her 
if  she  did  not  yield  to  his  wishes,  and  who  controlled  her 
so  thoroughly  that  she  would  do  anything  and  everything 
at  his  bidding. 

The  soundness  of  mind  in  the  horrible  case  223  and 
in  many  other  analogous  cases  cannot  be  called  in  ques- 
tion. As  matters  stand  now-a-days  when  the  public  cannot 
comprehend  the  more  refined  analysis  of  the  motives  in 


BOBBEEY  AND  THEFT  DEPENDENT  ON  FETICHISM.  543 

a  tragedy  and  when  the  law  profession  eschews  psychology 
in  favour  of  logical  formalism,  it  can  hardly  be  expected 
that  judge  and  jury  will  regard  the  weight  of  sexual  bond- 
age— especially  as  in  this  condition  the  incentive  to  the 
crime  is  not  a  morbid  one  and  the  intensity  of  the  incentive 
itself  cannot  be  dealt  with. 

Nevertheless  in  such  cases  it  behoves  to  consider 
whether  the  accused  was  possibly  still  susceptible  to 
counter-motives  or  whether  these  were  excluded  from  an 
effective  presence.  If  the  latter  be  the  case  it  would  be 
equivalent  to  a  disturbance  of  the  psychical  equilibrium. 

No  doubt  in  these  cases  a  sort  of  acquired  moral  weak- 
ness is  produced  which  impairs  the  soundness  of  mind. 
Sexual  bondage  should  certainly  constitute  a  cause  for 
leniency  in  crimes  committed  through  its  agency. 

5.  Bodily  Injury,  I^obbery  and  Theft  Dependent  on 

Fetichism. 

(Austrian,  §190;  German,  §249  [robbery].    Austrian,  §§  171,  460; 
German,  §242  [theft].) 

It  is  seen  from  the  section  on  fetichism,  under  "Gen- 
eral Pathology/'  that  pathological  fetichism  may  become 
the  cause  of  crimes.  There  are  now  recognised,  as  such, 
hair-despoiling  (cases  81,  82,  83)  ;  robbery  or  theft  of 
female  linen,  handl^erchiefs,  aprons  (cases  86,  87,  91,  93)  ; 
shoes  (cases  66,  93,  94),  and  silks  (case  99).  It  cannot 
be  doubted  that  such  individuals  are  the  subjects  of  deep 
mental  taint.  But,  for  the  assumption  of  an  absence  of 
mental  freedom  and  consequent  irresponsibility,  it  must 
be  proved  that  there  was  an  irresistible  impulse,  which, 
either  owing  to  the  strength  of  the  impulse  itself  or  to 
the  existence  of  mental  weal^ness,  rendered  control  of  the 
criminal  perverse  impelling  force  impossible. 

Such  crimes  and  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  they 
are  carried  out — whereby  they  differ  very  much  from 
common  robbery  and  theft — always  demand  a  medico- 
legal examination.    But  that  the  act  per  se  does  not  by 


544 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


any  means  necessarily  arise  from  psycho-pathological 
conditions  is  shown  by  the  infrequent  oases  of  hair- 
despoiling^  simply  for  the  purpose  of  g^in. 

Case  225.  P.,  labourer,  age  twenty-nine.  Family 
heavily  tainted.  Emotional,  irritable,  masturbated  since 
childhood.  When  ten  years  old  he  saw  a  boy  masturbate 
into  a  woman's  handkerchief.  This  gave  the  direction  to 
P.'s  vita  sexualis.  He  stole  handkerchiefs  from  pretty  girls 
and  masturbated  into  them.  The  mother  tried  every  means 
to  break  him  of  this  habit ;  she  admonished  him,  took  the 
stolen  handkerchiefs  away  and  bought  him  new  ones,  all 
in  vain.  He  was  caught  by  the  police  and  punished  for 
theft.  He  then  went  to  Africa  and  served  in  the  army 
with  an  excellent  record.  On  his  return  to  France  he  re- 
sumed his  old  practices.  He  was  only  potent  if  the  puella 
held  a  white  handkerchief  in  her  hand  during  the  act.  He 
married  in  1894  and  sustained  bis  virility  by  grasping  a 
handkerchief  during  coitus. 

The  fetichistic  crisis  always  came  suddenly,  like  a 
paroxysm,  especially  at  moments  of  laziness.  He  would 
feel  out  of  sorts,  psychically  moody  and  sexually  excited 
and  impelled  to  masturbate.  Soon  the  fancy-picture  of  a 
handkerchief  would  appear  and  take  full  possession  of  his 
thoughts  and  feelings.  If  at  that  period  he  should  catch 
sight  of  a  woman's  handkerchief  he  would  choke  with  fear, 
palpitation  of  the  heart  would  set  in^  he  would  tremble 
and  profuse  perspiration  would  break  out  all  over  his  body. 
Although  conscious  of  the  risk  involved,  he  was  irresistibly 
forced  to  steal  the  handkerchief.  He  was  arrested  on  one 
such  occasion,  but  the  examining  physician  declared  him 
irresponsible.  During  the  time  of  detention  he  was  free 
from  the  obsession.  He  hoped  to  master  his  weakness  in 
future.    The  number  of  handkerchiefs  he  had  stolen  he 

*  According  to  Austrian  law,  this  crime  should  fall  under  §  411, 
as  slight  bodily  injury;  according  to  the  German  criminal  law,  it  is 
bodily  injury  (of,  Liszt,  p.  325 K 


BOBBERY  AND  THEFT  DEPENDENT  OK  FETICHISM.  545 

estimated  to  be  one  hundred.  He  used  each  handkerchief 
only  once  and  then  threw  it  away.  (Magnan  in  Thoinot, 
attentats  aux  moeurs,  p.  428.) 

Case  226.  Handkerchief 'fetichism;  repeated  thefts 
of  handkerchiefs  belonging  to  women. 

D.,  forty-two  years  of  age,  man-servant,  single,  was 
sent  on  11th  March,  1892,  by  the  police  to  the  district 
asylum  of  Deggendorf  (Niederbayern)  for  observation  of 
his  mental  faculties. 

He  was  1.62  m.  high,  muscular  and  well  fed.  Head 
submicrocephalic ;  expression  of  face  blank.  The  eye 
distinctly  neuropathic.  Genital  organs  normal.  With 
the  exception  of  a  moderate  degree  of  neurasthenia  and 
increased  patellar  reflexes,  there  was  nothing  abnormal  in 
D.^s  nervous  system. 

In  1878  D.  received  his  first  sentence  of  one  and  a 
half  years'  imprisonment  at  Straubing  for  stealing  hand- 
kerchiefs. 

In  1880  he  stole  a  handkerchief  from  a  tradeswoman 
in  the  yard  of  an  inn,  and  was  sentenced  to  fourteen  days. 

In  1882  he  made  an  attempt  in  the  public  road  to 
pull  the  handkerchief  from  the  hand  of  a  peasant  girl. 
Charged  with  attempted  robbery,  he  was  found  not  guilty 
on  the  strength  of  medical  opinion,  which  stated  weak- 
ness of  mind  and  a  morbid  disturbance  of  the  mental 
faculties  tempore  delicti. 

In  1884  he  was  tried  before  a  jury  for  having  com- 
mitted, under  similar  circumstances,  robbery  of  a  woman's 
handkerchief,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  four  years' 
imprisonment. 

In  1888  he  took  in  the  public  market-place  a  hand- 
kerchief from  the  pocket  of  a  woman.  Sentence,  four 
months. 

In  1889,  for  a  similar  offence,  nine  months. 
In  1891,  ditto,  ten  months.     Otherwise  his  record 
shows  only  a  few  fines  or  detentions  at  the  police  station 

35 


546 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXXJALIS. 


for  carrying  a  concealed  weapon  (a  knife)  and  for  va- 
grancy. 

All  the  thefts  of  handkerchiefs  were  committed  from 
young  females,  chiefly  in  broad  daylight,  in  the  presence 
of  other  people,  and  so  clumsily  and  impudently  that  each 
time  he  was  arrested  on  the  spot.  In  the  proceedings  not 
the  slightest  traces  of  theft  of  other  articles,  ever  so  small, 
can  be  found. 

On  the  9th  December,  1891,  D.  was  once  more  re- 
leased from  jail.  On  the  14th  he  was  caught  stealing  the 
handkerchief  from  a  peasant  girl  in  a  crowd  at  the  annual 
fair.  He  was  at  once  arrested,  and  upon  searching  him 
the  police  found  two  more  white  handkerchiefs  belonging 
to  women. 

On  former  occasions  also  whole  collections  of  women's 
handkerchiefs  had  been  found  on  his  person  (1880,  thirty- 
two  pieces;  1882,  fourteen,  nine  of  which  he  wore  next 
his  skin;  on  another  occasion  twenty-five.  In  1891  seven 
white  handkerchiefs  were  found  upon  him). 

When  questioned  as  to  the  motive  for  stealing  hand- 
kerchiefs, he  always  said  that  he  was  drunk  at  the  time, 
and  had  taken  the  handkerchiefs  for  a  joke. 

The  handkerchiefs  found  upon  him  he  claimed  to  have 
bought  or  swapped  for  something  else,  or  he  said  women 
with  whom  he  had  relations  had  given  them  to  him. 

Under  observation  D.  showed  weakness  of  mind,  ap- 
peared run  down  through  vagrancy,  drink  and  masturba- 
tion, but  good-natured,  obedient,  and  by  no  means  afraid  of 
work. 

He  knew  nothing  of  his  parents,  grew  up  without 
supervision;  when  a  child  he  made  a  living  by  begging; 
at  thirteen  he  was  a  stable-boy,  and  was  used  at  fourteen 
by  others  for  pederasty.  He  declared  that  at  a  very  early 
period  he  felt  the  sexual  instinct  very  strongly;  began 
early  to  have  coitus  and  to  practise  masturbation.  When 
he  was  fifteen,  a  coachman  had  told  him  that  great 
pleasure  could  be  derived  by  applying  the  handkerchiefs 
of  young  women  ad  genitalia.    He  tried  it^  found  it  to  be 


BOBBERY  Al^B  THEFT  DEPENDENT  ON  FETICHISM.  547 

the  case,  and  now  sought  to  obtain  in  all  manner  possible 
such  handkerchiefs.  This  craving  became  so  strong  that 
wherever  he  saw  a  pleasing  young  woman  with  a  hand- 
kerchief in  her  hand  or  visible  in  her  pocket  violent  sexual 
excitement  would  seize  him,  and  he  was  impelled  to  make 
his  way  to  this  woman  and  take  the  handkerchief  away 
from  her. 

When  sober  he  generally  contrived  to  resist  this 
impulse  for  fear  of  punishment.  But  when  he  had  drink 
in  him  he  could  not  resist.  When  serving  in  the  army 
he  had  often  induced  young  and  pleasing  girls  to  give 
him  their  handkerchiefs  that  had  already  been  in  use, 
and  to  exchange  them  for  others  after  he  had  used  them 
for  a  while. 

When  he  slept  with  a  girl  he  generally  exchanged  his 
own  handkerchief  for  the  girl's.  Often  he  had  bought 
handkerchiefs  that  he  might  exchange  them  with  those 
used  by  women. 

ISTew  and  unused  handkerchiefs  had  no  effect  on  him. 
The  girl  must  have  carried  it  about  and  used  it  before  it 
excited  him  sexually. 

In  order  to  bring  unused  handkerchiefs  into  contact 
with  women,  he  would  at  times  throw  them  in  the  road 
in  front  of  a  woman  coming  towards  him,  that  she  might 
step  on  it  (this  is  taken  from  the  proceedings).  Once  he 
fell  upon  a  girl,  pressed  a  handkerchief  against  her  neck, 
and  ran  away. 

As  soon  as  he  came  into  possession  of  a  handkerchief 
that  had  been  touched  by  a  woman,  he  would  have  erection 
and  orgasm.  He  would  then  put  the  handkerchief  ad 
corpus  nudum,  or  preferably  ad  genitalia,  and  thus  pro- 
duce a  pleasurable  ejaculation. 

He  never  asked  such  women  to  have  coitus  with  him, 
partly  because  he  feared  a  refusal,  chiefly,  however,  be- 
cause he  preferred  the  handkerchief  to  the  girl. 

D.  made  all  these  confessions  with  great  reserve,  and 
piecemeal.   Repeatedly  he  broke  into  tears  and  refused  to 


548 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


say  more  because  ^^he  was  so  ashamed  of  himself'^  "I 
am  not  a  thief,  and  have  never  stolen  a  penny's  worth 
even  when  I  was  in  dire  distress.  I  never  could  have 
brought  myself  to  sell  one  of  these  handkerchiefs.  I  am 
not  a  bad  man.  Only  when  I  do  these  stupid  things  I  am 
beside  myself.'' 

The  favourable  opinion  given  by  the  authorities  of  the 
asylum  attributed  his  misdeeds  to  an  abnormal  mental 
condition  producing  a  morbid,  irresistible  impulse  to  com- 
mit these  acts,  coupled  with  weakness  of  intellect  in  a 
moderate  degree.   Free  pardon  from  theft. 

Case  227.  Violation  of  ladies^  toilets  emanating 
from  stuff -fetichism. 

X.,  heavily  tainted  (great  uncle  insane,  father  a 
drunkard,  sister  an  idiot),  was  arrested  in  an  office  whilst 
pushing  up  against  ladies,  he  was  cutting  with  a  pair  of 
scissors  pieces  of  fur,  velvet  or  cloth  from  their  apparel. 
In  his  pockets  and  in  his  room  a  big  lot  of  such  cuttings 
was  found. 

X.  had  shown  since  his  tenth  year  a  weakness  for 
woolly  and  fluffy  materials.  Even  the  very  sight,  but 
especially  the  touch,  of  them  would  bring  on  orgasm  and 
ejaculation.  Fur  particularly  had  this  effect  on  him,  and 
after  that  satin.  The  latter  accounted  for  the  fact  that  in 
his  collection  a  number  of  cuttings  of  satin  ribbons  were 
found. 

He  induced  lustful  emotions  by  placing  the  stolen 
pieces  of  stuff  next  to  his  skin.  If  ejaculation  was  not 
spontaneous  he  assisted  with  masturbation.  Woman  in 
her  capacity  as  woman,  or  sexual  intercourse  with  her, 
had  no  charm  for  him  (Gamier,  ^Xes  Fetichistes  per- 
vertes/'  p-  49,  Paris;  1896)- 


SEXUAL  OFFENCES  CAUSED  BY  DELUSION.  549 


Notes  on  the  Question  of  Responsibility  in  Sexual 
Offences  Caused  by  Delusion/ 

The  question  of  delusion  in  those  sexual  affects  which 
occur  in  fetichism,  sadism  and  exhibition,  offers  many  diffi- 
culties. The  all  important  point  is  to  find  the  motive  for 
the  act  resulting  either  from  f etichism  or  sadism,  for  it  is 
a  sexual  delict — likely  an  equivalent  for  impossible  coitus 
— and  not  a  theft  for  instance,  that  claims  our  attention. 
The  off'ender,  from  shame  over  his  act,  is  apt  to  mislead 
the  examining  judge.  Particular  stress  should  be  laid  upon 
the  fact  that  the  act  emanated  from  an  irresistible  impulse, 
a  delusion  which  voids  responsibility.  The  patient,  al- 
though not  fully  robbed  of  consciousness,  is  yet  unable 
to  shake  off  the  delusion  and  finds  relief  only  in  committing 
the  imperative  act,  which  as  a  rule  is  accompanied  by 
strong  paroxysms  of  fear  and  anxiety.  The  organic  source 
of  this  fear  may  be  found  in  powerful  somatic  vasomotoric 
manifestations.  Of  psychical  importance  is  the  conscious- 
ness that  the  mind  is  inhibited  in  its  power  of  forming 
free  thoughts,  that  the  will  power  is  impaired  and  quite 
impotent  in  the  presence  of  the  delusion.  This  may  be 
accompanied  by  hypersexuality,  and  the  affect  of  fear  may 
be  overcompensated  by  an  anticipated  pleasurable  feeling. 
Thus  the  patient,  though  conscious  of  the  wrongfulness  of 
the  act  and  its  consequences  determines  to  end  the  situation 
by  yielding  to  the  impulse,  which  is,  after  all,  the  only 
psychologically  possible  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  The 
offender  is  merely  an  automaton,  the  slave  of  a  driving 
idea. 

The  situation  is  an  organic  force,  an  impulse  to  rid 
himself  of  an  intolerable  position  involving  his  very  ex- 
istence. As  a  matter  of  fact  with  the  committal  of  the 
deed,  beneficent  freedom  from  the  constraint  and  the  pre- 
dominating idea  is  experienced.    Delusions  in  the  nar- 

*  Abstracts  from  a  paper  read  before  the  International  Congress 
at  Paris. 


550 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


rower  sense,  cardinal  symptoms  of  which  are  the  presence 
of  consciousness,  struggle  against  the  prevailing  impulse 
and  fear,  must  not  be  confounded  with : 

1.  The  sexual  acts  of  psychically  defective  individuals 
in  whom  the  sensual  appetite  by  virtue  of  ethical  and  in- 
tellectual insufficiency  finds  prompt  satisfaction  in  some 
adequate  sexual  act,  but  without  psychical  affects,  or  a 
conflict  with  moral  principles/ 

2.  Impulsive  sexual  acts  committed  hy  heavily  degen- 
erated individuals  by  virtue  of  pre-eminent  sexual  feelings 
in  hypersesthesia  sexualis.  These  feelings  suddenly  grow, 
even  in  statu  nascendi,  into  a  powerful  sexual  affect  to  the 
occlusion  of  the  spheres  Of  will  power  and  consciousness, 
into  a  sexual  delusion  coloured  with  the  character  of  a 
psychical  reflex,  or  a  quasi  psychical  convulsion. 

Alcohol  and  prolonged  sexual  abstinence  are  the  provo- 
cative causes  of  such  affects  in  many  degenerates.  The 
corresponding  acts  of  violence  consist,  as  a  rule,  in  rape.^ 
They  originate  from  epilepticaF  and  hysterical  neuroses 
or  from  over-indulgence  in  alcohol,  whilst  acts  emanating 
from  delusions  maintain  clinical  relations  to  neurasthenia. 

3.  The  sexual  acts  (chiefly  exhibition)  which  are  com- 
mitted  under  exceptional  episodical  psychical  conditions 
with  or  without  delirium  and  hallucinations.  These  occur 
in  individuals  afflicted  with  general  neuroses  (epilepsy, 
hysteria)  or  alcoholism,  when  consciousness  is  clouded  and 
memory  paralysed.  They  generally  present  the  character 
of  an  impulsive  act.* 

These  perversions  may  be  observed  in  heterosexual  as 
well  as  in  homosexual  individuals;  likewise  in  those  who 
are  sexually  impotent  or  otherwise. 

The  perversions  occurring  in  the  performance  of  the 

^Cf.  cases  211,  212,  213,  214,  221,  225,  226,  228.     (Cases  by 
Marc,  Ideler,  Friedreich,  Giraud.) 
"Cf.  cases  10,  23. 

•  Cf.  cases  12,  172,  174,  175,  17 Q.— Chevalier,  rinversion  sexuelle, 
p.  362;  les  epileptiques,  p.  81. 
*Cf.  cases  196-200. 


SEXUAL  OFFENCES  CAUSED  BY  DELUSION. 


551 


sexual  act  or  any  other  aet  that  serves  as  an  equivalent  for 
coitus  consist  (a)  in  heterosexual,  potent  individuals:  in 
imaginary  representations  of  the  female  sexual  organs. 
{Raymond  et  Janet,  necroses  et  idees  fixes  ii.,  p.  162)  ; 
gazing  at  the  genitals  of  women  (Petres  et  Regis,  "ob- 
sessions/' p.  40)  ;  tenere  genitalia  propria  ad  pedes  femin- 
arum  (case  76);  mictio  mulieris  in  os  aegroti  (case  68)  ; 
bestiality  (cases  199,  201,  203) ;  periodical  pederasty 
{Tarnowshy). 

(b)  In  heterosexual,  impotent  individuals  in  sadistic 
acts. 

In  homosexual  individuals  the  same  manifestations 
may  be  observed  only  mutatis  mutandis. 

The  question  of  responsibility  in  the  individual  case 
depends  on  the  psychical  conditions  by  which  the  oflFender 
was  actuated.  In  many  instances  the  culprit  is  devoid  of 
all  moral  worth  and  ethical  and  intellectual  understanding, 
is,  in  fact,  in  the  transitory  stage  of  becoming  a  psychically 
defective  sexual  criminal.  In  other  instances  prolonged 
sexual  abstinence  was  the  motive  power  which  led  to  the 
criminal  act,  or  the  complicating  influences  of  alcohol  with 
its  erogenous  and  demoralizing  effects  (chiefly  in  exhibi- 
tion cases).  Forensic  responsibility  in  these  cases  is  de- 
termined by  the  question  whether  the  offender  succumbed 
to  an  irresistible  impulse  or  not.  In  how  far  the  offender 
is  to  be  held  accountable  for  having  consciously  and  in 
reckless  manner  impaired  his  moral  will  power  by  intox- 
ication is  for  the  jurist  to  decide.  If  the  act  is  the  result 
of  a  delusion,  it  cannot  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  pun- 
ishable act. 

An  episode  of  psychical  perversion  especially  when 
manifested  in  the  form  of  a  delusion,  can  impossibly  be 
designated  as  a  mental  disease,  it  is  rather  a  temporary 
confusion  of  consciousness,  a  morbid  state  of  the  mind,  a 
transitory  disturbance  of  the  psychical  life. 

ISTevertheless  the  offender  is  a  danger  to  the  common 
weal  and  welfare  and  the  interests  of  society  are  best 


552 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


served  by  his  confinement  in  an  insane  asylum,  where  ab- 
stinence from  alcohol  is  enforced  and  proper  treatment 
(if  necessary  hypnotic  suggestion)  offers  promises  of  a 
final  cure. 

6.  Violation  of  Individuals  Under  the  Age  of  Fourteenc 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §§  128,  132;  Austrian  Abridgment,  §§  189,  191'; 
German  Statutes,  §§  174,  176^) 

By  violation  of  sexually  immature  individuals,  the 
jurist  understands  all  the  possible  immoral  acts  with 
persons  under  fourteen  years  of  age  that  are  not  com- 
prehended in  the  term  ^^rape."  The  term  violation,  in  the 
legal  sense  of  the  word,  comprehends  the  most  horrible 
perversions  and  acts,  which  are  possible  only  to  a  man 
who  is  a  slave  to  lust  and  morally  weak,  and,  as  is  usually 
the  case,  lacking  in  sexual  power. 

A  common  feature  of  these  crimes,  committed  on 
persons  that  really  still  belong  more  or  less  to  childhood, 
is  that  they  are  unmanly,  knavish,  and  often  silly.  It 
is  a  fact  that  such  acts,  excepting  pathological  cases,  like 
those  of  imbeciles,  paretics,  and  senile  dements,  are  almost 
exclusively  committed  by  young  men  who  lack  courage 
or  have  no  faith  in  their  virility;  or  by  roues  who  have, 
to  some  extent,  lost  their  power.  It  is  psychologically 
incomprehensible  that  an  adult  of  full  virility  and  mentally 
sound  should  indulge  in  sexual  abuses  with  children. 

Non-Psychopathological  Cases. 

ITon-psychopathological  cases  of  immoral  acts  with 
children  may  be  summarized  as  under: 

1.  Debauchees  who  have  tasted  all  the  pleasures  of  nor- 
mal and  abnormal  sexual  pleasures  with  woman.  The 
only  motive  for  the  infamous  act  can  be  found  in  a  morbid 
psychical  craving  to  create  a  novel  sexual  situation  and  to 
revel  in  the  shame  and  confusion  of  the  child  victim.  A 


VIOLATION  OF  INDIVIDUALS  "UNDER  AGE  OF  FOURTEEN.  553 

subordinate  motive  may  be  sexual  impotence  with  the  adult 
seeking  a  new  stimulus  in  the  extraordinary  coitus  with 
an  immature  female.  If  virility  also  fails  in  this  instance, 
sexual  contact  with  boys  is  very  likely  resorted  to,  espe- 
cially in  the  form  of  pederasty.  In  large  cities  the  markets 
for  these  filthy  needs  are  well  stocked.  {Cf.  Tardieus 
revelations  of  Paris,  and  Tarnowsky's  of  St.  Petersburg.) 
Casper  tells  us  that  lewd  mothers  often  prepare  their  lit- 
tle daughter  for  the  use  of  these  libertines. 

2.  Young  men  who  are  afraid  of  the  adult  female  or 
are  diffident  about  their  own  virility.  These  are  chiefly 
recruited  from  the  bands  of  masturbators  suffering  from 
psychical  impotence  or  some  irritable  weakness  of  the  sex- 
ual organs  which  render  coitus  cum  muliere  impossible  and 
seek  a  compensating  equivalent  in  the  manipulation  of  the 
female  organs  in  the  child  which  as  a  rule  suffices  to  pro- 
duce orgasm  and  ejaculation  in  themselves.  If  potency  is 
still  unimpaired,  immissio  penis  will  be  attempted  in  al- 
most every  case. 

Casper  in  his  ^^Clinical  ITovels,''^  cases  4  and  5,  shows 
that  even  brothers  have  proved  dangerous  fiends  toward 
their  little  sisters. 

3.  A  large  percentage  of  cases  is  represented  by  lewd 
servant  girls,  governesses  and  nursemaids,  not  to  speak  of 
female  relatives,  who  abuse  the  little  boys  entrusted  to  their 
care,  for  sexual  purposes^  and  often  even  infect  them  with 
the  gonorrhoeal  poison. 

The  cases  in  which  lascivious  tutors,  governesses,  etc., 
cane  or  spank  their  pupils  without  provocation,  are  open 
to  investigation  as  to  the  pathological  condition  of  the 
malefactor.^ 

^Tardieuy  attentats  aux  moers;  Casper,  Klinical  Novels,  ease  1; 
Maschka,  Handbuch,  iii.,  p.  175;  Casper,  Vierteljahrschr.,  1852,  Bd.  L, 

*Lop,  Archives  d'antropol.  crimin.,  x.,  55,  Annales  d'hygi^ne, 
XXXV.,  p.  462;  Bernard,  attentats  k  lapudeur  sur  les  petites  filles. 
Th^se  de  Lyon,  1886;  New  York  Med.  Journ.,  1893,  13  December. 

*  Albert,  Friedreich's  Blatter  f.  ger.  Med.,  1859,  p.  17. 


554 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


The  manner  in  which  acts  of  immorality  are  committed 
on  children  differs  widely,  especially  where  libertines  are 
concerned.  They  consist  chiefly  in  libidinous  manipula- 
tions of  the  pudenda,  active  manustupration  (using  the 
child's  hand  for  onanism),  flagellation,  etc.  Less  frequent 
is  cunnilingus,  irrumare  in  boys  or  girls,  psedicatio  puel- 
larum,  coitus  inter  femora,  exhibition.  The  possibilities 
in  this  direction  are  inexhaustible. 

The  finer  feelings  of  man  revolt  at  the  thought  of 
counting  the  monsters  among  the  psychically  normal  mem- 
bers of  human  society.  The  only  presumption  is  that  these 
individuals  have  suffered  shipwreck  in  the  sphere  of 
morality  and  potency.  This  should  not,  however,  preclude 
the  moral  responsibility  of  the  perpetrator,  as  sheer  moral 
depravity  may  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  act,  especially  in 
individuals  oversated  with  natural  sexual  intercourse,  in 
lascivious  characters  or  drunkards.  Judgment  of  the  act 
should  ever  be  guided  by  the  monstrosity  and  the  degree  in 
which  it  psychically  and  physically  differs  from  the 
natural  act. 

Psychopathological  Cases. 

A  great  number  of  these  cases,  however,  certainly 
depend  upon  pathological  states. 

A  review  of  the  psycho-pathological  cases  of  immorality 
with  children  shows  that  the  largest  number  may  be  re- 
duced to  conditions  of  acquired  mental  weakness.  First 
of  all  we  must  mention  dementia  senilis^  {Kirn,  "Allg. 
Zeitschr.  f.  Psychiatric,''  39,  p.  217),  then  chronic  alcohol- 
ism,^ paralysis,^  mental  debility  due  to  epilepsy,*  injuries 

*  Cases,  No.  163,  164,  165  quoted  in  this  book. 

"  Leppmann,  "  Die  Sachverstandigenthatigkeit,"  p.  96 ;  Lomhroso, 
"Archivio  di  psichiatria,"  viii.,  p.  519. 

'Cf.  supra,  page  468,  and  my  "  Arbeiten,"  Heft  4,  p.  96  (Incest, 
immorality  with  children.) 

*  Cases  181,  182,  supra;  Liman,  "  Zweifelhafte  Geisteszustande/' 
case  6. 


VIOLATIOlSr  OF  INDIVIDUALS  UNDER  AGE  OF  FOURTEEN.  555 

to  the  head  and  apoplexy/  lues  cerebri,^  Then  follow  the 
original  mental  defects,^  and  states  of  degeneration/ 

The  cause  of  these  oflFences  may  also  be  found  in 
states  of  morbid  unconsciousness. 

'Not  infrequently  these  outrages  on  morality  are  due 
-  to  overindulgence  in  alcoholic  stimulants  or  epilepto- 
psychical  conditions  of  an  exceptional  character,  at  times 
also  to  error  sexus  aut  personce.  They  may  be  explained 
on  the  ground  of  the  sexual  excitement  concomitant  with 
these  conditions,  especially  in  epileptic  subjects.^  Rape 
and  pederasty  are  of  frequent  occurrence  under  these 
circumstances.  In  the  states  of  psychical  weakness  the 
point  whether  virility  is  at  command  decides  as  to  the 
quality  of  ^he  sexual  act. 

In  addition  to  the  aforesaid  categories  of  moral  rene- 
gades, and  those  afflicted  with  psychico-moral  weakness — 
be  this  congenital  or  superinduced  by  cerebral  disease  or 
episodical  mental  aberration  —  there  are  cases  in  which 
the  sexually  needy  subject  is  drawn  to  children  not  in 
consequence  of  degenerated  morality  or  psychical  or  phy- 
sical impotence,  but  rather  by  a  morbid  disposition,  a 
psycho-sexual  perversion^  which  may  at  present  be  named 
pcedophilia  erotica.^ 

In  my  own  experience  I  have  come  across  four  cases 
only.  They  all  refer  to  men.  The  first  case  is  of  more 
value  than  the  others  for  it  appears  in  the  form  of  platonic 
love ;  but  it  manifests  its  sexual  character  in  the  fact  that 

*  Cases  174,  175. 
'Case  176. 

^Casper's  "Klin.  Novellen,"  p.  161,  193,  272;  Leppmann,  op.  cit,, 
p.  115;  HenJce's,  "  Zeitschr."  xxiii.,  "  Ergiinzungsh.,"  p.  147;  cf,  supra, 
pp.  445,  etc.;  501,  etc. 

*  Vide  supra,  cases  193  and  194,  10th  ed.  and  209  supra,  "  Viertel- 
jahrsschr.  f.  ger.  Med.^  N.  F.  xlix.,  2. 

*Vide  supra,  cases  178,  179,  184,  185.— Also  v,  Krafft  "  Arbeiten," 
iv.,  p.  97  (ScMndung  von  Kindern  im  epil.  Dammerzustand  des 
Thaters). 

*  Cf.  author's  original  article  in  Friedreich's  "  Blatter  f .  ger. 
Med.,  1896,  and  "  Arbeiten,"  Heft  4,  p.  105. 


556 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


this  (paranoic)  lover  of  children  is  only  stimulated  by 
little  girls.  He  is  quite  callous  towards  the  grown-up 
woman  and,  as  it  appears,  a  hair-fetichist.  (In  the  other 
cases  it  came  to  libidinous  acts.) 

Observation  'No.  2  represents  a  man  tainted  by  here- 
dity. Since  the  time  of  puberty  (which  came  very  late  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four)  sensual  emotions  towards  little 
girls  of  five  to  ten  years  of  age.  The  very  sight  of  such 
a  girl  brought  on  ejaculation;  a  touch  from  her  absolute 
sexual  paroxysm  with  only  a  succinct  recollection  as  to 
its  duration.  The  marital  act  gave  a  slight  gratification, 
thus  enabling  him  to  control  his  desire  for  little  girls  for 
a  time.  But  a  heavy  neurasthenia  supervened  (chiefly 
due  to  coitus  interruptus)  when  he  became  a  criminal 
either  because  his  moral  powers  of  resistance  slackened,  or 
his  sexual  appetite  increased  in  volume. 

The  third  case  is  a  man  tainted  by  heredity  and  con- 
stitutionally neurasthenic ;  cranium  abnormal,  never  had  a 
normal  inclination  to  the  adult  woman ;  but  in  coitus  was 
like  an  animal  at  rutting  time.  To  immorally  touch  little 
girls  gave  this  man  the  highest  possible  pleasure.  He  be- 
came psedophilic  only  at  the  age  of  twenty-five. 

My  fourth  case  is  a  man,  tainted,  who  has  ever  found 
sexual  charm  only  in  immature  girls.  Mature  women 
had  but  little  attraction  for  him.  When  impotence  (e 
tabe?)  and  dementia  paralytica  set  in  he  could  no  longer 
resist  the  morbid  impulse. 

The  cases  quoted  here  under  the  head  of  ^^pcedophilia 
erotica''  in  the  sense  of  sexual  perversion  have  the  follow- 
ing traits  in  common : — 

(1)  The  individual  afflicted  is  tainted. 

(2)  The  affection  for  immature  persons  of  the  opposite 
sex  is  of  a  primary  nature  (quite  in  opposition  to  the 
debauchee)  ;  the  imaginary  representations  are  in  an  ab- 
normal manner  and  very  strongly  indeed  marked  by  lustful 
feelings. 

(3)  The  libidinous  acts — if  you  exclude  the  one  case 
in  which  virility  was  present — consist  only  in  immodest 


VIOLATION  OF  mDIVIDUALS  UNDER  AGE  OF  FOURTEEN.  557 

touches  or  manustupration  of  the  victim.  ITevertheless 
they  adduce  the  gratification  of  the  subject,  even  though 
ejaculation  be  not  attained. 

The  following  cases  taken  from  Magnan  (^^Lectures 
on  Psychiatry'^)  show  clearly  that  this  pcedophilia  erotica 
occurs  also  in  women. 

Magnan  s  first  case  is  a  lady  twenty-nine  years  of  age, 
tainted  by  heredity ;  has  delusions  and  phobias. 

Since  eight  years  strong  desire  for  sexual  union  with 
one  of  her  (five)  nephews.  First  her  desire  is  directed 
towards  the  oldest  when  he  was  five  years  of  age.  She 
transferred  this  desire  to  each  of  them  in  turn  as  they 
grew  up.  The  sight  of  the  child  in  question  was  sufficient 
to  produce  orgasm  and  even  pollution.  She  was  able  to 
resist  her  inclination,  which  she  cannot  explain.  She  had 
no  inclination  for  mature  men. 

The  second  case  is  a  woman  thirty-two  years  of  age, 
mother  of  two  children;  heavily  tainted  by  heredity;  sep- 
arated from  her  husband  on  account  of  brutal  treatment. 

For  several  months  she  had  neglected  her  children, 
had  visited  a  friend's  house  every  day,  and  always  at  the 
time  when  the  son  of  the  house  was  returning  from  school. 
She  hugged  and  kissed  the  child,  and  at  times  said  that 
she  was  in  love  with  him  and  wanted  to  marry  him. 

One  day  she  told  his  mother  that  the  boy  was  ill  and 
unhappy.  She  wanted  to  cohabit  with  him  in  order  to 
cure  him. 

She  was  forbidden  the  house,  but  laid  siege  to  it. 

One  day  she  tried  to  force  her  way  in,  when  she  was 
sent  to  an  asylum,  where  she  continued  to  rave  about  the 
boy. 

That  pcedophilia  erotica  may  occur  periodically  is  de- 
monstrated by  AnjeVs  observation  {vide  supra,  cases  187 
and  188). 

In  the  sphere  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct  this  perver- 
sion is  by  no  means  rare.  In  the  same  measure  in  which 
the  former  is  an  equivalent  of  the  heterosexual  instinct, 
so  in  this  instance  the  predilection  for  the  immature  is 


658 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


equally  abnormal  and  exceptional.  Practically  speaking, 
acts  of  immorality  committed  on  boys  by  men  sexually 
inverted  are  of  the  greatest  rarity. 

I  have  already  laid  stress  upon  this  fact  in  my  pam- 
phlet ^^Der  contrar  Sexuale  vor  dem  Strafrichter/'  second 
edition,  p.  9.  I  have  pointed  out  there  that  the  real 
seducer  of  youth  is  the  weak-minded  man,  though  born 
sexually  normal;  the  roue  who  is  impotent  or  at  least 
sexually  perverted  and  morally  depraved;  the  senile  man 
who  is  morally  enfeebled  but  sexually  excited. 

Under  such  accidental  conditions,  the  sexually  in- 
verted individual  may  also  eventually  become  a  danger  to 
boys  (cf.  case  127  of  the  present  and  109  of  the  ninth 
edition  of  this  book)  ;  but  this  has  nothing  to  do  with 
pcedophilia,  for  the  very  reason  that  in  these  cases  the 
boys  were  pubertati  proximi^  whilst  in  cases  of  genuine 
pcedopJiilia  the  subject  is  drawn  only  to  the  sexually  quite 
immature.  The  second  case  of  Magnan  seems  to  be  the 
most  instructive  in  this  regard,  for  in  it  the  desire  turned 
in  each  instance  from  the  older  boy  to  the  younger  one  as 
he  grew  to  the  age  of  three  to  five  years. 

The  following  case,  reported  by  Pacotte  and  Raynaud 
(^^Archives  d' Anthropologic  criminelle,''  x.,  p.  435),  may 
be  looked  upon  as  a  proof  that  pcedophilia  erotica  may  also 
occur  in  cases  of  antipathic  sexuality. 

Case  228,  X.,  thirty-six  years  of  age,  journalist; 
heavily  tainted  by  heredity;  ethically  and  intellectually 
defective ;  since  early  youth  afflicted  with  epileptoid  spells ; 
intolerant  of  alcohol;  face  asymmetrical;  never  cared 
for  woman;  masturbated  since  he  was  eighteen;  attempts 
at  coitus  found  him  cold  and  impotent. 

But  boys  of  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age  excited  him 
very  much.  Although  he  was  conscious  of  the  criminality 
of  the  act,  he  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  predicate 
with  them.  Oftentimes  he  was  sated  with  their  ^^enchant- 
ing looks  and  their  sweet  smiles". 

JTeither  adult  nor  little  girls  possessed  any  charms 


VIOLATION  OF  INDIVIDUALS  UNDER  AG3S  OF  FOURTEEN.  659 

for  him.  Only  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  when  a  boy 
twelve  years  old  forced  sexual  intercourse  upon  him,  he 
became  paedophilic.  At  that  time  he  refused  his  seducer, 
but  soon  he  could  resist  no  longer  the  desire  awakened  in 
him  by  that  incident,  although  he  was  repeatedly  sen- 
tenced and  imprisoned  for  this  offence.  His  life  was 
blighted  by  this  unfortunate  weakness,  and  he  made 
several  attempts  at  suicide. 

Expert  opinion  established  congenital  sexual  inver- 
sion, and,  within  the  limits  of  homesexuality,  a  special 
anomaly,  viz.,  exclusive  love  for  boys  of  a  certain  age  and 
of  delicate  constitution. 

It  was  claimed  that  degenerative  mental  disturbance 
affected  the  soundness  of  his  mind  and  rendered  him  a 
danger  to  the  community. 

X.  was  inconsolable  over  the  result  of  his  trial,  for  he 
was  sent  to  an  insane  asylum.  He  had  anticipated  a  free 
pardon. 

In  my  "Arbeiten"  (Heft  4,  pp.  119-124)  I  have  pub- 
lished three  other  cases  of  paedophilia  erotica,  which  came 
under  my  personal  observation.  Two  other  cases  in  my 
possession  have  never  been  published.  It  seems  to  me  as 
if  all  these  cases  might  be  reduced  to  fetichism.  This 
would  at  once  account  for  the  paradox  apparent  in  the 
manifestations  of  paedophilia  erotica.  It  can  only  be  ex- 
plained on  the  ground  of  heavy  taint,  for  a  strongly 
marked  degenerative  predisposition  can  always  be  found 
in  these  individuals.  That  these  cases  are  not  of  every-day 
occurrence  and  require  a  fetichistic  impulse,  may  also  ac- 
count for  their  rarity. 

PseudopcedopMlia — occurring  in  individuals  who  have 
lost  libido  for  the  adult  through  masturbation  and  subse- 
quently turn  to  children  for  the  gratification  of  their  sexual 
appetite — is  much  more  frequently  observed.  (Cf.  case 
106  of  the  tenth  edition  of  this  book.) 

Another  classical  case  may  be  found  in  my  "Arbeiten,*^ 
Heft  4,  p.  125. 


660 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SBXUALIS. 


Irresponsibility  should,  as  a  rule,  not  be  claimed  in 
these  cases,  for  experience  teaches  that  paedophilic  impulses 
can  be  mastered,  unless  a  weakening  or  total  loss  of  will 
power  has  been  superinduced  by  pathological  conditions, 
such  as  neurasthenia  gravis  or  dementia  paralitica.  A 
plea  for  ameliorating  circumstances,  however,  may  be  indi- 
cated. Nevertheless  a  criminal  enquiry  should  always  be 
made  in  flagrant  cases  of  paedophilia  erotica.  The  question 
of  responsibility  in  concreto  facto  depends  entirely  on  the 
synthetic  comprehension  of  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
individual  involved.  Hypersexuality,  overindulgence  in 
alcoholic  drinks,  moral  weakness,  etc.,  should  be  carefully 
considered  as  they  frequently  counteract  tho^  freedom  of 
action. 

At  any  rate  these  unfortunate  beings  should  always 
be  looked  upon  as  a  common  danger  to  the  weal  and  wel- 
fare of  the  community,  and  put  under  strict  surveillance 
and  medical  treatment.  The  proper  place  for  such  per- 
sons is  a  sanitarium^  established  for  that  purpose,  not 
the  prison.^ 

That  a  cure  is  possible  is  evidenced  by  two  severe 
cases  which  came  under  my  observation  and  treatment. 

Unfortunately  the  presumption  that  psycho-pathologi- 
cal conditions  are  present  cannot  always  be  proved.  But 
the  fact  that  pathological  moments  are  not  wanting,  should 
be  carefully  weighed.  At  any  rate,  a  thorough  investiga- 
tion of  the  mental  status  of  the  individual  must  be  made. 
This  is  especially  the  case  when  old  men  seduce  children. 
Moral  and  intellectual  idiocy,  heavy  psychical  degenera- 
tion, defects  springing  from  acquired  organic  causes  and 
mental  aberrations  are  frequently  at  the  bottom  of  these 
excesses.  The  beginning  of  dementia  senilis  or  paralitica 
is  not  always  as  yet  sufficiently  pronounced  to  allow  of  a 
proper  diagnosis.  Proper  care  must  therefore  be  exer- 
cised. 

^FucJis,  Therapie  der  anomalen  vita  sexualis,  p.  11. 
'  Cf.  Zeitschrift  f .  Psychiatrie,  58,  4. 


tTHNATUBAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


561 


7.  Unnatural  Abuse  (Sodomy)/ 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §  129;  Abridgment,  §  190;  German  StatuteSi 

§  175.) 

(a)  Violation  of  Animals  (Bestiality).* 

Violation  of  animals,  monstrous  and  revolting  as  it 
seems  to  mankind,  is  by  no  means  always  due  to  psycho- 
pathological  conditions.  Low  morality  and  great  sexual 
desire,  with  lack  of  opportunity  for  natural  indulgence, 
are  the  principal  motives  of  this  unnatural  means  of 
sexual  satisfaction,  which  is  resorted  to  by  women  as  well 
as  by  men. 

To  PolaJc  we  owe  the  knowledge  that  in  Persia  bestial- 
ity is  frequently  practised  because  of  the  delusion  that 
it  cures  gonorrhcea;  just  as  in  Europe  an  idea  is  still 
prevalent  that  intercourse  with  children  heals  venereal 
disease. 

Experience  teaches  that  bestiality  with  cows  and 
horses  is  none  too  infrequent.  Occasionally  the  acts  may 
be  undertaken  with  goats,  bitches,  and,  as  a  case  of  Tar- 
dieus  and  one  by  Schauenstein  show  ("Lehrb.,  p.  125), 
with  hens. 

*  I  follow  the  usual  terminology  in  describing  bestiality  and 
pederasty  under  the  general  term  of  sodomy.  In  Genesis  ( chap.  xix. ) , 
whence  this  word  comes,  it  signifies  exclusively  the  vice  of  pederasty. 
Later,  sodomy  was  often  used  synonymously  with  bestiality.  The 
moral  theologians,  like  St.  Alplionsus  of  Ligouri,  Gury,  and  others, 
have  always  distinguished  correctly,  i.  e.,  in  the  sense  of  Genesis, 
between  sodomia,  i.  e.,  concubitus  cum  persona  ejusdem  sexus,  and 
bestialitas,  i.  e.,  concubitus  cum  bestia  (cf,  Olfers,  *'  Pastoralmedicin," 
p.  78). 

The  jurists  brought  confusion  into  the  terminology  by  establish- 
ing a  "  Sodomia  ratione  sexus  "  and  a  "  Sodomia  ratione  generis." 
Science,  however,  should  here  assert  itself  as  ancilla  theologiw,  and 
return  to  the  correct  usage  of  words. 

'  For  interesting  histories,  vide  Krauss,  "  Psychol,  d.  Ver- 
brechens,"  p.  180;  Maschka,  "  Hdb.,"  iii.,  p.  188;  Hofmann,  "  Lehrb. 
d.  ger,  Med.,"  p.  180;  Rosenhautn,  "  Die  Lustseuche,"  5th  edition,  1892. 

36  . 


662 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


The  action  of  Frederick  the  Great,  in  a  case  of  a 
cavalryman  who  had  committed  bestiality  with  a  mare, 
is  well-known:  ^^The  fellow  is  a  pig,  and  shall  be  reduced 
to  the  infantry". 

The  intercourse  of  females  with  beasts  is  limited  to 
dogs.  A  monstrous  example  of  the  moral  depravity  in 
large  cities  is  related  by  Maschha  (Handb.,''  iii.)  ;  it  is 
the  case  of  a  Parisian  female  who  showed  herself  in  the 
sexual  act  with  a  trained  bull-dog,  to  a  secret  circle  of 
roueSj  at  ten  francs  a  head. 

Case  229.  In  a  provincial  town  a  man  was  caught 
in  intercourse  with  a  hen.  He  was  thirty  years  old,  and 
of  high  social  position.  The  chickens  had  been  dying  one 
after  another,  and  the  man  causing  it  had  been  'Vanted'^ 
for  a  long  time.  To  the  question  of  the  judge,  as  to  the 
reason  for  such  an  act,  the  accused  said  that  his  genitals 
were  so  small  that  coitus  with  women  was  impossible. 
Medical  examination  showed  that  actually  the  genitals 
were  extremely  small.    The  man  was  mentally  quite  sound. 

There  were  no  statements  concerning  any  abnormali- 
ties at  the  time  of  puberty,  etc.  {OyurTcovechhy ,  ^^Mannl. 
Impotent  1889,  p.  82). 

Case  230.  On  the  afternoon  of  23d  September, 
1889,  W.,  aged  sixteen,  shoemaker's  apprentice,  caught 
a  goose  in  a  neighbour's  garden,  and  committed  bestiality 
on  the  fowl  until  the  neighbour  approached.  On  being 
accused  by  the  neighbour,  W.  said,  ^^Well!  Is  there 
anything  wrong  with  the  goose?"  and  then  went  away. 
At  his  examination  he  confessed  the  act,  but  excused 
himself  on  the  ground  of  temporary  loss  of  mind.  Since 
a  severe  illness  in  his  twelfth  year,  he  several  times  a 
month  had  attacks,  with  heat  in  his  head,  in  which  he 
was  intensely  excited  sexually,  could  not  help  himself 
and  did  not  know  what  he  was  doing.  He  had  done  the 
act  during  such  an  attack.  He  answered  for  himself 
in  the  same  way  at  the  trials  and  stated  that  he  knew, 


UNISTATURAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


563 


nothing  of  the  species  facti  except  from  the  statements 
of  the  neighbour.  His  father  states  that  W.,  who  comes 
of  a  healthy  family,  had  always  been  sickly  since  an  attack 
of  scarlatina  in  his  fifth  year,  and  that,  at  the  age  of 
twelve,  he  had  a  febrile  cerebral  disease.  W.  had  a  good 
reputation,  learned  well  in  school,  and  later  helped  his 
father  in  his  work.    He  was  not  given  to  masturbation. 

The  medical  examination  revealed  no  intellectual  or 
moral  defect.  The  physical  examination  revealed  nor- 
mal genitals;  penis  relatively  greatly  developed;  marked 
exaggeration  of  the  patellar  reflexes.  In  other  respects, 
negative  result. 

The  history  of  the  condition  at  the  time  of  the  deed 
was  not  to  be  depended  upon.  There  was  no  proof  of 
previous  attacks  of  mental  disturbance,  and  there  were 
none  during  the  six  weeks  of  observation.  There  was 
no  perversion  of  the  vita  sexualis.  The  medical  opinion 
allowed  the  possibility  that  some  organic  cause  (cerebral 
congestion),  dependent  upon  cerebral  disease,  may  have 
exercised  an  influence  at  the  time  of  the  commission  of 
the  criminal  act.  (From  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Fritsch,  of 
Vienna.) 

But  there  is  another  group  of  cases  falling  well  within 
the  category  of  bestiality,  in  which  decidedly  a  patho- 
logical basis  exists,  indicated  by  heavy  taint,  constitutional 
neuroses,  impotence  for  the  normal  act,  impulsive  manner 
of  performing  the  unnatural  act.  Perhaps  it  would  serve 
a  purpose  to  put  such  cases  under  the  heading  of  a  special 
appellation;  for  instance,  to  use  the  term  ^^bestiality''  for 
those  cases  which  are  not  of  a  pathological  character,  and 
the  term  ^^Zooerasty"  for  those  of  a  pathological  nature. 

Case  231.  Impulsive  sodomy.  A.,  aged  sixteen; 
gardener's  boy;  born  out  of  wedlock;  father  unknown; 
mother  deeply  tainted,  hystero-epileptic.  A.  had  a  de- 
formed, asymmetrical  cranium,  and  deformity  and  asym- 
metry of  the  bones  of  the  face ;  the  whole  skeleton  was  also 


564 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


deformed,  asymmetrical  and  small.  From  childhood  he 
was  a  masturbator;  always  morose,  apathetic,  and  fond 
of  solitude;  very  irritable,  and  pathological  in  his  emo- 
tional reaction.  He  was  an  imbecile,  probably  much  re- 
duced physically  by  masturbation,  and  neurasthenic. 
Moreover,  he  presented  hysteropathic  symptoms  (limita- 
tion of  the  visual  field,  dyschromatopsia ;  diminution  of 
the  senses  of  smell,  taste  and  hearing  on  the  right  side; 
anaesthesia  of  the  right  testicle,  clavus,  etc.). 

A.  was  convicted  of  having  committed  masturbation  and 
sodomy  on  dogs  and  rabbits.  When  twelve  years  old  he 
saw  how  boys  masturbated  a  dog.  He  imitated  it,  and 
thereafter  he  could  not  keep  from  abusing  dogs,  cats  and 
rabbits  in  this  vile  manner.  Much  more  frequently,  how- 
ever, he  committed  sodomy  on  female  rabbits, — the  only 
animals  that  had  a  charm  for  him.  At  dusk  he  was 
accustomed  to  repair  to  his  master's  rabbit-pen  in  order 
to  gratify  his  vile  desire.  Eabbits  with  torn  rectums  were 
repeatedly  found.  The  act  of  bestiality  was  always  done 
in  the  same  manner.  There  were  actual  attacks  which 
came  on  every  eight  weeks,  always  in  the  evening,  and 
always  in  the  same  way.  A.  would  become  very  uncom- 
fortable, and  have  a  feeling  as  if  some  one  were  pounding 
his  head.  He  felt  as  if  losing  his  reason.  He  struggled 
against  the  imperative  idea  of  committing  sodomy  with 
the  rabbits,  and  thus  had  an  increasing  feeling  of  fear  and 
intensification  of  headache  until  it  became  unbearable.  At 
the  height  of  the  attack  there  were  sounds  of  bells,  cold 
perspiration,  trembling  of  the  knees,  and,  finally,  loss  of 
resistive  power,  and  impulsive  performance  of  the  perverse 
act.  As  soon  as  this  was  done  he  lost  all  anxiety;  the 
nervous  cycle  was  completed,  and  he  was  again  master  of 
himself,  deeply  ashamed  of  the  deed,  and  fearful  of  the 
return  of  an  attack.  A.  stated  that,  in  such  a  condition,  if 
called  upon  to  choose  between  a  woman  and  a  female 
rabbit,  he  could  make  choice  only  of  the  latter.  In  the 
intervals,  also,  of  all  domestic  animals  he  is  partial  only 
to  rabbits.    In  his  exceptional  states  simple  caressing  or 


UNNATURAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


565 


kissing,  etc.,  of  the  rabbit  sufficed,  as  a  rule,  to  afford  him 
sexual  satisfaction;  but  sometimes  he  had,  when  doing 
this,  such  furor  sexualis  that  he  was  forced  to  wildly  per- 
form sodomy  on  the  animal. 

The  acts  of  bestiality  mentioned  were  the  only  acts 
which  afforded  him  sexual  satisfaction,  and  they  consti- 
tuted the  only  manner  in  which  he  was  capable  of  sexual 
indulgence.  A.  declared  that,  in  the  act,  he  never  had  a 
lustful  feeling,  but  satisfaction  only,  inasmuch  as  he  was 
thus  freed  from  the  painful  condition  into  which  he  was 
brought  by  the  imperative  impulse. 

The  medical  evidence  easily  proved  that  this  human 
monster  was  a  psychically  degenerate,  irresponsible  in- 
valid, and  not  a  criminal  (Boeteau^  ^^La  France  medicale/' 
38th  year,  'No.  38). 

Case  232.  X.,  peasant,  aged  forty;  Greek-Catholic. 
Father  and  mother  were  hard  drinkers.  Since  his  fifth 
year  patient  had  epileptic  convulsions — i.e.^  he  would  fall 
down  unconscious,  lie  still  two  or  three  minutes,  and 
then  get  up  and  run  aimlessly  about  with  staring  eyes. 
Sexuality  was  first  manifested  at  seventeen.  The  patient 
had  inclinations  neither  for  women  nor  for  men,  but  for 
animals  (fowls,  horses,  etc.).  He  had  intercourse  with 
hens  and  ducks,  and  later  with  horses  and  cows.  iNever 
onanism. 

The  patient  painted  pictures  of  saints;  was  of  very 
limited  intelligence.  For  years,  religious  paranoia,  with 
states  of  ecstasy.  He  had  an  "inexplicable"  love  for  the 
Virgin,  for  whom  he  would  sacrifice  his  life.  Taken  to 
hospital,  he  proved  to  be  free  from  infirmity  and  signs  of 
oinatomical  degeneration. 

He  always  had  an  aversion  for  women.  In  a  single 
attempt  at  coitus  with  a  woman  he  was  impotent,  but 
with  animals  he  was  always  potent.  He  was  bashful  before 
women;  coitus  with  women  he  regarded  almost  as  a  sin 
(Kowalewshy,  "Jahrb.  f.  Psychiatric,"  vii.,  Heft  3). 


666 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SiiXTJALIS. 


Case  233.  T.,  thirty-five  years  of  age.  Eather  an 
inebriate;  motlier  psychopathic,  l^ever  had  a  severe 
illness;  never  showed  special  peculiarities.  At  the  age  of 
nine  immorality  with  a  hen;  later  on  with  other  domestic 
animals.  When  he  began  to  have  sexual  relations  with 
women  his  bestial  desires  disappeared.  Married  when 
twenty,  and  found  sexual  satisfaction. 

When  twenty-seven  he  began  to  drink.  Then  his 
former  perverse  inclinations  were  awakened.  One  day  he 
took  a  she-goat  to  a  neighbouring  village  to  have  her 
covered.  He  felt  a  strong  desire  to  commit  sodomy  with 
her,  but  he  at  first  overcame  the  impulse.  Palpitation  of 
the  heart,  pain  in  the  chest,  and  a  violent  orgasm  made 
him  succumb.  T.  declared  that  these  bestial  acts  gave 
him  greater  lustful  gratification  than  coitus  cum  femina. 

His  acts  of  bestiality  remained  unnoticed.  He  was 
finally  sent  to  an  insane  asylum  on  account  of  delirium 
tremens,,  when,  during  his  examination  upon  admission, 
he  made  the  above  revelations  (Boissier  et  Lachaux,  '^An- 
nal.  medico-psychoL,"  July- August,  1893,  p.  381). 

In  the  explanation  of  zooerasty  great  difficulties  are 
encountered.  The  attempt  to  reduce  it  to  fetichism,  as  is 
possible  in  zoophilia  erotica  (cf.  p.  281),  has  utterly 
failed. 

It  is  questionable  whether  zoophilia  can  ever  lead  to 
sexual  acts  with  beasts  (eventually  bestiality).  If  it  be  in 
reality  a  fetichistic  manifestation,  this  possibility  cannot 
be  based  upon  the  present  knowledge  of  fetichism. 

Even  in  the  case  of  zoophilia  erotica  feiischistica  (p. 
281),  acts  of  bestiality  were  never  committed;  in  fact,  the 
sex  of  the  animals  there  in  question  was  never  considered. 
The  only  thing  that  at  present  can  be  done  is  to  consider 
zooerasty  as  an  original  perversion  of  the  vita  sexualis, 
and  place  it  on  the  same  level  with  antipathic  sexuality. 

The  following  case,  although  it  is  only  rudimentary 


triTNATUBAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


567 


and  abortive,  seems  to  support  this  theory  and  to  establish 
complete  unconsciousness  of  the  motive  of  the  impulse. 

Case  234.  Y.,  twenty  years  of  age,  intelligent, 
well  educated;  claimed  to  be  free  from  taint  by  heredity; 
physically  sound  except  evidences  of  neurasthenia  and 
hypercesthesia  urethrce;  said  he  never  masturbated.  Always 
fond  of  animals,  especially  dogs  and  horses.  Since  the 
age  of  puberty  increased  love  for  animals,  but  sexual 
ideas  in  connection  with  sport  seem  to  have  been  absent. 

One  day  when  he  mounted  a  mare  for  the  first  time 
he  experienced  a  sensation  of  lust ;  two  weeks  later,  on  a 
similar  occasion,  the  same  sensation  with  erection. 

During  his  first  ride  he  had  ejaculation.  A  month 
after  the  same  thing  happened.  Patient  felt  disgusted 
at  the  occurrence,  and  was  angry  with  himself.  He  gave 
up  the  saddle.    But  from  now  on  pollutions  almost  daily. 

When  he  saw  men  on  horseback,  or  dogs,  he  had  erec- 
tions. Almost  every  night  he  had  pollutions  accompa- 
nied by  dreams  in  which  he  rode  on  horseback  or  was 
training  dogs.    Patient  came  for  medical  advice. 

Treatment  with  sounds  removed  the  hypercesthesia 
urethrce  and  diminished  pollutions.  The  patient  followed 
reluctantly  the  advice  of  the  physician  to  have  coitus, 
partly  on  account  of  dislike  for  women,  partly  on  account 
of  diffidence  in  his  virility. 

He  made  abortive  attempts  at  coitus,  but  could  not 
even  bring  about  an  erection,  which,  however,  took  place 
the  moment  he  saw  a  man  on  horseback.  This  depressed 
him ;  he  considered  his  condition  abnormal  beyond  remedy. 

Continued  medical  treatment.  A  further  attempt  at 
coitus  was  successful  with  the  assistance  of  fancied  images 
of  riders  and  dogs,  which  stimulated  erection. 

Patient  grew  more  virile ;  his  love  for  animals  waned ; 
erections  at  the  sight  of  riders  and  dogs  disappeared, 
nocturnal  pollutions  with  dreams  of  animals  became  less 
frequent;  he  dreamed  now  of  girls.  Erection,  which  at 
first  did  not  support  ejaculatio  proecox,  and  pathological 


568 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


coitus  grew  normal  under  treatment  with  sounds.  Patient 
found  normal  sexual  gratification,  and  was  freed  from  his 
perverse  sexual  impulse  (Dr.  Hanc,  ^^Wien.  med.  Blatter," 
1887,  5). 

The  preceding  case  justifies  the  assumption  of  an 
original  perversion,  for  instead  of  the  idea  of  the  normal 
object  (woman),  it  is  the  idea  of  animals  (dogs  and  horses) 
frequently  seen  which  awakens  sexual  feelings  and  desires. 
There  may  have  been  a  latent  sadistic  element  in  the 
case,  for,  at  least  in  the  vita  sexualis  of  the  dreams,  the 
riding  of  horses  and  the  training  of  dogs  played  a  prom- 
inent part. 

The  following  case,  that  of  a  stuprator  hestiarum,  is  of 
pathological  interest. 

Case  235.  Mr.  X.,  forty-seven  years  of  age,  of  high 
social  position,  came  to  me  for  advice  on  account  of  a 
troublesome  anomaly  of  his  vita  sexualis.  He  was  about 
to  be  married  and  in  his  present  condition  considered  it 
morally  impossible  to  enter  upon  matrimony. 

X.  was  evidently  heavily  tainted — his  father,  two  of 
his  sisters  and  one  brother  were  highly  neurotic.  The 
mother  was  presumed  to  have  been  a  healthy  woman. 

The  sexual  instinct  awoke  early  in  X. ;  he  began  to 
masturbate  spontaneously  at  the  age  of  eleven. 

He  was  decidedly  hypersexual,  practised  masturbation 
with  passion,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  forgot  him- 
self so  far  as  to  sodomise  bitches,  mares  and  other  fe- 
male animals.  He  ascribed  these  acts  to  excessive  sexual 
desire  and  to  want  of  opportunity  to  satisfy  his  cravings 
in  the  normal  way— he  spent  his  childhood  and  boyhood 
in  a  lonely  part  of  the  country  and  later  on  he  visited 
a  boarding  school. 

X.  admitted  that  he  was  quite  conscious  of  the  abomin- 
ation of  his  acts,  and  said  that  he  fought  with  all  his 
will  power  against  these  bestial  impulses.  But  the  greed, 
the  lust^  the  pleasure  which  they  gave,  always  over- 


UNNATUKAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


569 


powered  him.  When  grown  up  to  manhood  he  never 
had  homosexual  desires,  nor  did  he  feel  an  inclination 
for  woman. 

Up  to  this  part  of  his  confession  the  opinion  seems 
justified  that  his  bestiality  was  not  a  perversion,  but  only 
a  perversity  which  found  root  in  his  habits. 

But  it  strikes  one  as  peculiar  that  his  erotic  dreams 
were  always  about  bestial  intercourse,  and  that  when  at 
the  age  of  twenty-five  he  sought  to  improve  his  condition 
by  coitus  cum  muliere,  he  derived  not  the  slightest  gratifi* 
cation  from  it,  although  he  was  quite  potent  and  the 
puella  pleasing  and  sympathetic. 

He  had  the  same  experience  at  other  attempts  which 
he  repeatedly  made  during  the  subsequent  twenty-two 
years.  He  described  coitus  as  a  mere  mechanical  act 
devoid  of  lustful  excitement.  He  might  as  well  have 
coitus  with  a  piece  of  wood.  It  simply  disgusted  him, 
whilst  cum  hestia  he  experienced  the  height  of  pleasure. 

The  mere  sight  of  animals  excited  him  wildly.  The 
society  of  ladies  caused  him  ennui.  When  he  went  with 
a  girl  she  had  to  resort  to  all  kinds  of  manipulations  to 
prepare  him  for  the  act. 

For  two  months  previous  to  his  first  visit  to  me  X. 
had  exerted  all  his  will  power  to  resist  the  impulses  to 
masturbation  and  bestiality. 

He  was  physically  a  peculiar  being,  evidently  a  degen- 
ere  superieur.  There  were  no  symptoms  of  anatomical 
degeneration,  no  traces  of  neurasthenia. 

I  made  strong  suggestions  to  be  on  his  guard  against 
masturbation  and  bestiality,  and  to  seek  more  the  society  of 
ladies ;  prescribed  anaphrodisiacs,  advised  frugality,  slight 
hydrotherapy,  plenty  of  open-air  exercise,  steady  occupa- 
tion, and  had  the  satisfaction  to  learn  that  the  patient  at 
the  end  of  ten  months  experienced  a  slight  gratification 
in  repeated  sexual  intercourse  cum  femina  and  that  he  wag 
almost  free  from  his  former  perverse  desirea* 


570 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


An  analogous  case  is  reported  by  Mollj,  "Libido 
sexnalis/'  p.  421. 

Another  remarkable  case  of  zooerasty  is  published  by 
Howard  ("Alienist  and  Neurologist/'  1896,  vol.  xvii.,  1.). 
It  refers  to  a  young  man  of  sixteen  years  of  age  who  found 
sexual  gratification  only  with  pigs. 

The  rarity  of  cases  of  real  zooerasty  seems  to  be  re- 
markable. But  this  may  be  explained  by  the  ease  with 
which  they  are  kept  secret. 

The  present  state  of  our  knowledge  does  not  permit 
of  a  final  judgment  as  to  whether  zooerasty  is  an  original 
anomaly  or  a  perverse  condition  acquired  through  fetich- 
istic  influences. 

Moll  (Libido  sexualis,  p.  432)  is  inclined  to  the  belief 
that  it  is  an  arrest  of  unindifferentiated  sexuality  coupled 
with  hypersexuality  directed  to  beasts  (analogous  to  mas- 
turbatory  impulses)  and  that  this  craving  for  sexual  deal- 
ings with  beasts  is  permanent  and  does  inhibit  the  devel- 
opment of  libido  towards  the  human  female.  Practically 
speaking,  sexual  feeling  and  psychical  potency  seem  to 
be  absent,  even  the  power  to  differentiate  between  the 
male  and  female  beast  as  an  object  for  sexual  accomplish- 
ment. Cf.  Howard's  case,  in  which  only  a  certain  species 
of  animal  was  preferred. 

The  forensically  important  distinction  between  bestial- 
ity and  zooerasty  can  never  be  difficult  in  concreto. 

Whoever  seeks  and  finds  sexual  gratification  exclusively 
with  animals,  although  the  opportunities  for  the  normal 
act  are  at  hand,  must  at  once  be  suspected  of  a  patho- 
logical condition  of  the  sexual  instinct.  At  any  rate  more 
so  than  the  sexually  inverted  person,  for  in  sexual  acts 
with  animals  the  psychical  infection  is  wanting,  i.e.,  the 
possibility  of  the  perversion  of  one  part  leading  to  the 
perversity  of  the  other. 

It  may  be  assumed,  however,  that  the  number  of  cases 
of  zooerasty  as  compared  with  those  of  sexual  inversion 
h  unequally  smaller.     This  follows  a  priori  from  the 


UNNATUBAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


571 


character  of  both  these  perversions.  The  zooerast  as 
compared  with  the  sexual  invert  is  much  farther  removed 
from  the  normal  object.  This  would  qualify  the  perver- 
sion of  the  former  as  a  much  graver  condition — ^because 
more  degenerative — than  that  of  the  latter. 

(b)  With  Persons  of  the  Same  Sex  (Pederasty;  Sod- 
omy in  its  Strict  Sense). 

German  law  takes  cognizance  of  unnatural  sexual 
relations  only  between  men;  Austrian,  between  those  of 
the  same  sex;  and  therefore,  unnatural  relations  between 
woriien  are  punishable. 

Among  the  immoralities  between  men,  pederasty 
(immissio  penis  in  anum)  claims  the  principal  interest. 
Indeed,  the  jurist  thought  only  of  this  perversity  of  sexual 
activity;  and,  according  to  the  opinions  of  distinguished 
interpreters  of  the  law  (Oppenhojf,  ^^Stgsb.,''  Berlin,  1872, 
p.  324,  and  Budolf  and  Stenglein,  "T>.  Strafgesb.  f.  d. 
Deutsche  Reich,''  1881,  p.  423),  immissio  penis  in  corpus 
vivum  must  take  place  to  establish  the  criminal  act  covered 
by  §  175. 

According  to  this  interpretation,  legal  punishment 
would  not  follow  other  improper  acts  between  male  per- 
sons, so  long  as  they  were  not  complicated  with  offence  to 
public  decency,  with  force,  or  undertaken  with  hoys  under 
the  age  of  fourteen.  Of  late  this  interpretation  has  again 
been  abandoned,  and  the  crime  of  unnatural  abuse  between 
men  is  assumed  to  have  been  committed  when  merely  acts 
similar  to  cohabitation  are  performed.^ 

*How  difficult,  unpleasant,  and  dangerous  it  may  be  for  the 
judge  to  form  a  proper  judgment  of  these  "  coitus-like acts  for  the 
establishment  of  the  objective  fact  of  the  crime  is  well  shown  by  an 
article  on  the  punishableness  of  male  intercourse,  in  the  "  Zeitschr. 
f.  d.  gesammte  Strafrechtswissenschaft.,  Bd.  vii.,  Heft  1,  as  well  as 
by  a  similar  one  in  Friedreich's  "  Blatter  f.  ger.  Medicin,  1891,  Heft  6. 
Vide,  further,  Moll,  "  Contrare  Sexualempfmdung,  p.  223  et  seq.,  and 
Bernhardi,  "  Der  Uranismus,"  Berlin,  1895 ;  va/n  Erkelens,  "  Straf- 
gesetz  u.  widernaturl.  Unzucht,"  Berlin,  1895. — 8chdfer,  "Vierteljahrs. 
f.  gerichtl,  Med.,"  3  Folge,  xvii..  Heft  2. 


572 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


The  study  of  antipathic  sexual  instinct  has  placed  male 
love  for  males  in  a  very  different  light  from  that  in  which 
itj  and  particularly  pederasty,  stood  at  the  time  the  statutes 
were  framed.  The  fact  that  there  is  no  doubt  about  the 
pathological  basis  of  many  cases  of  inverted  sexual  instinct 
shows  that  pederasty  may  also  be  the  act  of  an  irresponsi- 
ble person,  and  makes  it  necessary,  in  court,  to  examine 
not  merely  the  deed,  but  also  the  mental  condition  of  the 
perpetrator. 

The  principles  laid  down  previously  must  also  here  be 
adhered  to.  IS^ot  the  deed,  but  only  an  anthropological 
and  clinical  judgment  of  the  perpetrator  can  permit  a 
decision  as  to  whether  we  have  to  do  with  a  perversity 
deserving  punishment,  or  with  an  abnormal  perversion  of 
the  mental  and  sexual  life,  which,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, excludes  punishment. 

The  next  legal  question  to  settle  is  whether  the  anti- 
pathic sexual  feeling  is  congenital  or  acquired;  and,  in 
the  latter  case,  whether  it  is  a  pathological  perversion  or 
a  moral  perversity. 

Congenital  sexual  inversion  occurs  only  in  predisposed 
(tainted)  individuals,  as  a  partial  manifestation  of  a  defect 
evidenced  by  anatomical  or  functional  abnormalities,  or  by 
both.  The  case  becomes  clearer  and  the  diagnosis  more 
certain  if  the  individual,  in  character  and  disposition, 
seems  to  correspond  entirely  with  his  sexual  peculiarity; 
if  the  inclination  toward  persons  of  the  opposite  sex  is 
entirely  wanting,  or  horror  of  sexual  intercourse  with 
them  is  felt;  and  if  the  individual,  in  the  impulses  to 
satisfy  the  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  shows  other  anomalies 
of  the  sexual  sphere,  such  as  more  pronounced  degenera- 
tion in  the  form  of  periodicity  of  the  impulse  and  impul- 
sive conduct,  and  is  a  neuropathic  and  psychopathic 
person. 

Another  question  concerns  the  mental  condition  of 
the  urning.  If  this  be  such  as  to  remove  the  possibility 
of  moral  responsibility,  then  the  pederast  is  not  a  criminal, 
but  an  irresponsible  insane  person. 


UNNATURAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


573 


This  condition  is  apparently  less  frequent  in  congenital 
nrnings.  As  a  rule,  these  cases  present  elementary  psy- 
chical disturbawes  which  do  not  remove  responsibility. 

But  this  does  not  settle  the  question  of  responsibility 
in  the  urning.  The  sexual  instinct  is  one  of  the  most 
powerful  organic  needs.  There  is  no  law  that  looks  upon 
its  satisfaction  outside  of  marriage  as  punishable  in  itself ; 
if  the  urning  feels  perversely,  it  is  not  his  fault,  but  the 
fault  of  an  abnormal  condition  natural  to  him.  His 
sexual  instinct  may  be  sesthetically  very  repugnant,  but, 
from  his  morbid  standpoint,  it  is  natural.  And  again,  in 
the  majority  of  these  unfortunates  the  perverse  sexual 
instinct  is  abnormally  intense,  and  their  consciousness 
recognises  it  as  nothing  unnatural.  Thus  moral  and 
aesthetic  ideas  fail  to  assist  them  in  resisting  the  instinct. 

Innumerable  normally  constituted  men  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  renounce  the  gratification  of  their  libido  without 
suffering  from  it  in  health.  Many  neuropathic  indi- 
viduals,— and  urnings  are  almost  always  neuropathic, — 
on  the  contrary,  become  nervously  ill  when  they  do  not 
satisfy  the  sexual  desire,  either  as  ITature  prompts  or  in  a 
way  that  to  them  is  perverse. 

The  majority  of  urnings  are  in  a  painful  situation. 
On  the  one  hand,  there  is  an  impulse  toward  persons  of 
their  own  sex  that  is  abnormally  intense,  the  gratification 
of  which  has  a  good  effect,  and  is  natural  to  them ;  on  the 
other  hand,  there  is  public  sentiment,  which  stigmatises 
their  acts,  and  the  law  which  threatens  them  with  dis- 
graceful punishment.  Before  them  lies  mental  despair, — 
even  insanity  and  suicide, — at  the  very  least,  nervous 
disease;  behind  them,  shame,  loss  of  position,  etc.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that,  under  these  circumstances,  states 
of  stress  and  compulsion  may  be  created  by  an  unfortu- 
nate natural  disposition  and  constitution.  Society  and 
the  law  should  understand  and  appreciate  these  facts. 
The  former  should  pity,  and  not  despise,  these  unfortu- 
nates; the  latter  must  cease  to  punish  them, — at  least 


674 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


while  they  remain  within  the  limits  which  are  set  for  the 
activity  of  their  sexual  instinct. 

As  a  confirmation  of  the  opinions  and  demands  con- 
cerning these  step-children  of  Nature,  it  is  permissible  to 
reproduce  here  the  memorial  of  an  urning  to  the  author. 
The  writer  of  the  following  lines  is  a  man  of  high  position 
in  London: — 

^^You  have  no  idea  what  a  constant  struggle  we  all — 
particularly  those  of  us  who  have  the  most  mind  and 
finest  feelings — must  endure,  and  how  we  suffer  under 
the  prevailing  false  ideas  about  us  and  our  so-called 
^immorality'. 

^^Your  opinion  that  the  phenomenon  under  considera- 
tion is  primarily  due  to  a  congenital  ^pathological'  dis- 
position will,  perhaps,  make  it  possible  to  overcome 
existing  prejudices,  and  awaken  pity  for  poor,  ^abnormal' 
men,  instead  of  the  present  repugnance  and  contempt. 

^^Much  as  I  believe  that  the  opinion  expressed  by  you 
is  exceedingly  beneficial  to  us,  I  am  still  compelled,  in  the 
interest  of  science,  to  repudiate  the  word  ^pathological' ; 
and  you  will  permit  me  to  express  a  few  thoughts  with 
respect  to  it. 

^^TJnder  all  circumstances  the  phenomenon  is  anom- 
alous; but  the  word  ^pathological'  conveys  another 
meaning,  which  I  cannot  think  suits  this  phenomenon;  at 
least,  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  observe  it  in  very  many 
cases.  I  will  allow,  a  priori,  that,  among  urnings,  a  far 
higher  proportion  of  cases  of  insanity,  of  nervous  exhaus- 
tion, etc.,  may  be  observed  than  in  other  normal  men. 
Does  this  increased  nervousness  necessarily  depend  upon 
the  character  of  urningism,  or  is  it  not,  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  to  be  ascribed  to  the  effect  of  the  laws  and  the  pre- 
judices of  society,  which  prohibit  the  indulgence  of  their 
sexual  desires,  depending  on  a  congenital  peculiarity, 
while  others  are  not  thus  restrained  ? 

^^The  youthful  urning,  when  he  feels  the  first  sexual 
promptings  and  naively  expresses  them  to  his  comrades, 


UNNATUEAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


575 


soon  finds  that  he  is  not  understood;  he  shrinks  into 
himself.  If  he  tells  his  parents  or  teacher  what  moves 
him,  that  which  is  as  natural  to  him  as  swimming  is  to 
a  fish  is  described  as  wrong  and  sinful,  and  he  is  told 
it  must  be  fought  and  overcome  at  any  price.  Then  an 
inner  conflict  begins,  a  powerful  repression  of  sexual  in- 
clinations ;  and  the  more  the  natural  satisfaction  of  desire 
is  repressed,  the  more  lively  the  fancy  becomes,  and  paints 
the  very  pictures  that  the  wish  is  to  banish.  The  more 
energetic  the  character  that  carries  on  this  inner  conflict, 
the  more  the  whole  nervous  system  must  suffer.  Such 
a  powerful  repression  of  an  instinct  so  deeply  implanted 
in  us,  in  my  opinion,  develops  the  abnormal  symptoms 
which  are  observed  in  many  urnings;  but  this  does  not 
necessarily  follow  from  the  urning's  disposition. 

^^Some  continue  the  conflict  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  and  thus  injure  themselves;  others  at  last  come 
to  the  knowledge  that  the  powerful  instinct  born  in  them 
cannot  possibly  be  sinful,  and,  therefore,  they  cease  to 
try  to  do  the  impossible — the  repression  of  the  instinct. 
Then,  however,  begin  constant  suffering  and  excitement. 
When  a  normal  man  seeks  satisfaction  of  sexual  inclina- 
tion, he  knows  how  to  find  it  easily;  it  is  not  so  with 
the  urning.  He  sees  men  that  attract  him,  but  he  dares 
not  say — nay,  not  even  betray  by  a  look — what  his  feel- 
ings are.  He  thinks  that  he  alone  of  all  the  world  has 
such  abnormal  feelings.  Naturally  he  seeks  the  society 
of  young  men;  but  he  does  not  venture  to  confide  in 
them.  Thus  he  comes  to  provide  himself  with  a  satis- 
faction that  he  cannot  otherwise  obtain.  Onanism  is 
practised  inordinately,  and  followed  by  all  the  evil  results 
of  that  vice.  When,  after  a  time,  the  nervous  system  has 
been  injured,  the  abnormality  is  again  not  the  result  of 
urningism,  but  it  is  produced  by  the  onanism  to  which 
the  urning  resorts,  as  a  result  of  the  public  sentiment 
that  denies  him  opportunity  to  satisfy  the  sexual  instinct 
that  is  natural  to  him. 

"Or  let  us  suppose  the  urning  has  had  the  rare  for- 


576 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


tune  to  soon  find  a  person  like  himself;  or  that  he  has 
been  introduced  by  an  experienced  friend  to  the  events 
of  the  world  of  urnings.  Then  he  is  spared  much  of  the 
inner  conflict;  but,  at  the  same  time,  fearful  cares  and 
anxieties  follow  his  footsteps.  Now  he  knows  that  he  is 
not  the  only  one  in  the  world  that  has  such  abnormal 
feelings;  he  opens  his  eyes  and  wonders  that  he  meets  so 
many  of  his  kind  in  all  social  circles  and  in  all  callings; 
he  also  learns  that,  in  the  world  of  urnings,  as  in  the 
other,  there  is  prostitution,  and  that  men  as  well  as  women 
can  be  bought.  Thus  there  is  no  longer  any  want  of 
opportunity  for  sexual  satisfaction.  But  here  how  differ- 
ently  the  experience  is  gained  from  that  obtained  in  the 
normal  manner  of  sexual  indulgence ! 

^'Let  us  consider  the  happiest  case.  After  longing  all 
one's  life,  the  friend  of  like  feeling  is  found.  But  he  can- 
not be  approached  openly,  as  a  lover  approaches  the  girl 
he  loves.  In  constant  fear,  both  must  conceal  their  rela- 
tions; nay,  even  intimacy  that  might  easily  excite  sus- 
picion— especially  should  they  not  be  of  like  age,  or  should 
they  belong  to  different  classes — must  be  kept  from  the 
world.  Thus,  even  in  this  relation,  is  forged  a  chain 
of  anxiety  and  fear  that  the  secret  will  be  betrayed  or 
discovered,  which  leaves  them  no  joy  in  the  indulgence. 
The  slightest  thing  that  would  not  affect  others  makes 
them  tremble  with  fear  that  suspicion  might  be  excited 
and  the  secret  discovered,  and  destroy  social  position  and 
business.  Could  this  constant  anxiety  and  care  be  en- 
dured without  leaving  a  trace,  without  exerting  an  influ- 
ence on  the  entire  nervous  system  ? 

^^Another  less  fortunate  man  does  not  find  a  friend  of 
like  feeling,  but  falls  into  the  hands  of  a  handsome  man, 
who  sought  him  until  the  secret  was  discovered.  Now 
the  most  refined  blackmail  is  extorted.  The  unfortunate, 
persecuted  man,  brought  to  the  alternative  of  paying  or 
of  losing  his  social  position,  and  bringing  disgrace  on 
himself  and  his  family,  pays;  and  the  more  he  gives,  the 
more  voracious  the  vampire  becomes;  until  at  last  there 


TJNNATUBAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


577 


remains  nothing  but  absolute  financial  ruin  or  dishonour. 
Who  can  wonder  that  nerves  are  not  equal  to  such  a 
terrible  struggle ! 

^^They  give  way;  insanity  conies  on,  and  the  miser- 
able man  at  last  finds  the  rest  in  an  asylum  that  he  could 
not  find  in  the  world.  Another,  in  the  same  situation, 
driven  to  despair,  finds  relief  in  suicide.  It  cannot  be 
known  how  many  of  the  suicides  of  young  men  are  to 
be  attributed  to  this  combination  of  circumstances. 

^^I  do  not  think  that  I  am  in  error  when  I  declare 
that  at  least  one  half  of  the  suicides  of  young  men  are 
due  to  such  conditions.  Even  in  those  cases  where  urn- 
ings  are  not  persecuted  by  a  heartless  villain,  but  where 
a  happy  relation  between  two  men  exists,  discovery,  or 
even  the  fear  of  it,  very  often  leads  to  suicide.  How 
many  officers,  how  many  soldiers,  having  such  relations 
with  their  subordinates  or  companions,  in  the  moment 
when  they  have  believed  themselves  discovered,  have  sought 
to  escape  the  threatened  disgrace  by  means  of  a  bullet! 
And  it  is  the  same  in  all  callings. 

^^Therefore,  if  it  must  be  admitted  that,  among  urn- 
ings,  more  mental  abnormalities  and  more  insanity  are 
actually  observed  than  among  other  men,  yet  this  does 
not  prove  that  the  mental  disturbance  is  a  necessary  ac- 
companiment of  the  urning's  condition,  and  that  the 
latter  induces  the  former. 

"According  to  my  firm  conviction,  hy  far  the  greater 
number  of  cases  of  mental  disturbance  or  abnormal  dis- 
position observed  in  urnings  are  not  to  be  attributed  to 
the  sexual  anomaly;  but  they  are  caused  by  the  existing 
notions  concerning  urnings,  and  the  resulting  laws,  and 
dominant  public  sentiment  concerning  the  anomaly.  Any 
one  with  an  adequate  idea  of  the  mental  and  moral  suifer- 
ing,  of  the  anxiety  and  care  that  the  urning  must  endure ; 
of  the  constant  hypocrisy  and  secrecy  he  must  practise  in 
order  to  conceal  his  inner  instinct;  of  the  difficulties  that 
meet  him  in  satisfying  his  natural  desire, — can  only  be 
surprised  that  more  insanity  and  nervous  disturbance  does 

37 


578 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


not  occur  in  urnings.  The  greater  part  of  these  abnormal 
states  would  not  be  developed  if  the  urning,  like  another, 
could  find  a  simple  and  easy  way  in  which  to  satisfy  his 
sexual  desire, — if  he  were  not  for  ever  troubled  by  these 
anxieties 

De  lege  lata,  as  far  as  the  urning  is  concerned,  the 
paragraph  with  reference  to  pederasty  should  not  be  ap- 
plied without  the  proof  of  actual  pederasty;  and  psychical 
and  somatic  abnormalities  should  be  examined  by  experts 
with  respect  to  an  estimate  in  the  individual  of  the  ques- 
tion of  guilt. 

De  lege  ferenda,  the  urnings  wish  a  repeal  of  the  para- 
graph. The  jurist  could  not  consent  to  this,  if  he  is 
to  remember  that  pederasty  is  much  more  frequently  a 
disgusting  vice  than  the  result  of  a  physical  and  mental 
infirmity;  and  that,  moreover,  many  urnings,  though 
driven  to  sexual  acts  with  their  own  sex,  are  yet  in 
nowise  compelled  to  indulge  in  pederasty, — a  sexual  act 
which,  under  all  circumstances,  must  stand  as  cynical, 
disgusting,  and,  when  passive,  as  decidedly  injurious. 
Whether  for  reasons  of  expediency  (difficulty  of  fixing  the 
guilt,  encouragement  of  blackmail,  etc.),  it  would  not  he 
opportune  to  strike  from  the  statutes  the  legal  punishment 
of  the  male-loving  man  is  a  question  for  the  jurists  of  the 
future.^ 

My  reasons  for  abolishing  the  laws  above  referred  to 
are  the  following : — 

(1)  The  offences  referred  to  in  these  laws  generally 
spring  from  an  abnormal  psychical  condition. 

(2)  Only  a  most  careful  medical  examination  can  dis- 
tinguish cases  of  sheer  perversity  from  those  of  patholo- 
gical perversion.  As  soon  as  the  individual  is  charged 
with  the  offence  he  is  socially  ruined. 

(3)  The  majority  of  urnings  are  the  victims  of  a  per- 
verse instinct  of  abnormal  quality.    In  qualifying  the  sex- 

^  Cf,  the  author's  pamphlet  "  Der  contrar  Sexuale  vor  dem  Straf- 
richter,"   Leipzig  and  Vienna  (Deutike),  2  Aufl.,  1895. 


UNNATURAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


57S 


ual  instinct  they  are  irresistibly  forced  by  physical  com- 
pulsion. 

(4)  Many  urnings  are  incapable  of  considering  their 
sexual  instinct  as  unnatural;  on  the  contrary,  their  own 
appears  to  them  the  natural  act,  and  that  permitted  by 
law  as  contra  naturam.  The  moral  means  of  correction 
which  might  prevent  the  sexual  transgression  are  there- 
fore wanting. 

(5)  The  definition  as  to  what  constitutes  an  immoral 
offence  is  defective,  and  allows  the  judge  too  much  latitude. 
In  Germany,  for  instance,  the  interpretation  of  §  175 
growing  more  subtle  and  ingenious  every  day,  gives  direct 
proof  of  the  uncertainty  of  its  proper  legal  understanding. 

The  deed  in  itself  ought  to  be  decisive  in  this  matter, 
and  the  verdict  should  be  in  accordance  with  it.  (As  a 
rule,  the  motive  is  scarcely  ever  scrutinised.)  But  how 
is  this  to  be  established?  For  the  deed  is^  as  a  rule, 
committed  in  secret  and  in  the  absence  of  witnesses. 

(6)  Theoretical  criminal  reasons  for  the  retention  of 
the  paragraph  are  never  advanced.  It  does  not  deter 
from  crime  and  has  no  corrective  influence,  for  patho- 
logical manifestations  are  not  removed  by  penal  remedies. 
Decidedly  it  is  not  an  atonement  for  a  criminal  act  which 
can  only  under  certain  and  mostly  false  presumptions  be 
considered  as  criminal,  and  thus  may  lead  to  acts  of  gross 
injustice.  It  must  be  remembered  that  in  many  civilised 
countries  this  paragraph  no  longer  is  in  vogue,  that  in 
Germany  it  only  exists  as  a  concession  to  public  morality, 
whilst  the  latter  is  based  on  false  principles,  and  frequently 
mixes  up  perversion  with  perversity. 

(7)  In  my  opinion,  public  morality  and  youth  are  suffi- 
ciently protected,  in  Germany  at  any  rate,  by  other  para- 
graphs of  the  statutes;  and  I  incline  to  the  belief  that 
paragraph  175  does  more  harm  than  good,  in  so  far  as  it 
favours  and  abets  blackmail — one  of  the  basest  and  vilest 
vices. 

Of  course,  the  blackmailer  may  be  punished,  but  he 
has  always  the  one  chance  in  his  favour,  that  his  victim 


580 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


will  never  resort  to  the  extreme  measure  of  appealing  to 
the  law.  If  it  comes  to  the  worst  the  scoundrel  is  con- 
fined to  prison  for  a  short  time  without  running  the  risk 
of  losing  the  honour  which  he  never  possessed,  whilst  his 
victim  has  lost  all,  i.e.,  his  good  name  and  the  respect  of 
others,  is  thus  ruined  and  often  brought  to  self-destruction. 

(8)  If  the  German  law-maker  should  deem  public 
morality  endangered  by  the  abrogation  of  §  175,  surely  the 
extension  of  §  176,  1,  to  male  persons  as  well  should  be 
sufficient  (at  present  this  paragraph  deals  only  with  im- 
moral acts  committed  on  females  either  with  force  or  under 
threats).  The  ^^Code  penal  francais"  has  such  a  para- 
graph. Eventually  the  age  of  fourteen  years  mentioned  in 
this  paragraph  176,  3,  and  beyond  which  immoral  actions 
committed  on  youthful  persons  go  unpunished,  might  be 
raised  to  a  higher  figure.  This  would  also  benefit  the 
female  portion  of  society,  who  scarcely  possess  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  sufficient  maturity  of  mind  and  judgment 
to  protect  themselves  against  the  evil.  Moreover  by  this 
act  a  more  efficient  protection  would  be  given  to  young 
people  in  general  (say  up  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
year)  than  is  now  granted  by  §  175,  which  after  all  is 
only  directed  against  pederasty  (and  according  to  more 
recent  interpretation  against  other  acts  of  a  coitus-like 
nature)  whilst  it  regards  onanism  and  other  immoral  acts 
with  impunity.  Perverse  people  but  seldom  endanger  the 
morality  of  the  young  by  pederasty,  but  much  more  fre- 
quently by  other  acts  of  immorality.  Beyond  a  certain 
age,  say  eighteen,  when  a  sufficient  degree  of  moral  and 
intellectual  ripeness  has  been  attained,  the  law  has  neither 
the  right  nor  the  duty  to  impugn  immoral  acts  which  are 
committed  inter  mares,  portis  clausis  and  consensu  mutuo. 
The  individual  himself  is  responsible  for  such  acts,  for 
they  do  not  violate  either  public  or  private  interests. 

What  has  been  said  de  lege  lata  concerning  congenital 
sexual  inversion  and  its  relation  to  the  law  is  also  appli- 
cable to  the  acquired  abnormality.    The  accompanying 


UNNATURAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


581 


neurosis  or  psychosis  should  have  much  diagnostic  and 
forensic  weight  with  reference  to  the  question  of  guilt. 

It  is  of  high  psychopathological  and,  under  circum- 
stances, also  of  criminal  interest  that  individuals  of  anti- 
pathic sexuality  when  unfortunate  in  their  love  affairs, 
or  when  meeting  with  deception  on  the  part  of  the  be- 
loved, are  subject  to  all  those  psychical  reactions  in  the 
shape  of  jealousy  and  vindictiveness  which  occur  in  the 
love  affairs  between  man  and  woman;  nay,  often  ever 
lead  to  deeds  of  violence  to  revenge  the  affront  or  to  punish 
the  robber  of  happiness. 

!N"othing  else  could  prove  more  clearly  the  constitu- 
tionality of  these  inverted  sexual  feelings;  their  dominat- 
ing power  over  sense,  thought  and  aspiration,  and  their 
complete  substitution  for  hetero-sexual  normal  feeling  and 
development.  A  case  of  such  unrequited  and  betrayed 
love  is  the  following  taken  from  recent  American  criminal 
acts,  the  report  of  which  was  sent  to  me  by  Dr.  Boeck  of 
Troppau. 

Case  236.  A  sexually  inverted  girl  hills  the  girl  she 
loves  because  she  was  rejected. 

In  January,  1892,  Alice  M.,  a  young  girl  belonging  to 
one  of  the  best  families  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  U.S.A., 
killed  in  the  public  street  of  that  town  her  girl  friend, 
Freda  W.,  also  of  the  best  society.  She  made  several 
deep  gashes  in  the  neck  of  the  girl  with  a  razor. 

The  trial  elicited  the  following  facts : — 

Alice  inherited  taint  from  her  mother — an  uncle  and 
several  cousins  in  the  first  degree  were  insane — the  mother 
herself  was  psychopathic,  had  puerperal  dementia  after 
each  confinement,  the  worst  attack  following  the  birth  of 
the  seventh  child,  i.e.^  Alice,  now  a  prisoner — afterwards 
she  declined  mentally  suffering  from  dementia  persecu- 
toria. 

A  brother  of  the  accused  suffered  from  mental  derange- 
ment for  some  time  after  an  alleged  sunstroke. 

Alice  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  of  medium  height,  not 


582 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


pretty.  The  face  was  childlike  and  ^^almost  too  small  for 
her  size/'  and  asymmetrical,  the  right  facial  side  was  more 
developed  than  the  left,  the  nose  ^^of  striking  irregular- 
ity/' the  eye  piercing.    She  was  left-handed. 

With  the  beginning  of  pnberty,  severe  and  continued 
headaches  were  of  frequent  occurrence;  once  a  month 
she  suflFered  from  epistaxis,  often  up  to  within  the  very 
latest  period  from  attacks  of  tremor.  On  one  occasion 
she  lost  consciousness  during  one  of  these  attacks. 

Alice  was  a  nervous,  irritable  child,  and  very  slow  in 
physical  development.  She  never  enjoyed  children's  or 
girls'  games.  When  she  was  four  to  five  years  old  she 
took  much  pleasure  in  tormenting  cats,  suspending  them 
by  one  leg. 

She  preferred  her  younger  brother  and  his  games  to 
her  sisters;  she  vied  with  him  in  spinning  tops,  playing 
baseball  and  football,  or  shooting  at  targets,  and  in  many 
silly  pranks.  She  loved  to  climb  trees  and  roofs,  and  was 
very  clever  in  this  sport.  Above  all  things  she  loved  to 
amuse  herself  in  the  stable  among  the  mules.  When  she 
was  six  to  seven  her  father  had  bought  a  horse,  and  she 
took  great  delight  in  feeding  and  tending  it,  and  rode 
about  the  paddock  astraddle  on  its  back  like  a  boy,  with- 
out a  saddle.  Later  on  she  would  also  groom  the  horse 
and  wash  his  hoofs.  She  would  lead  him  along  the  street 
by  the  halter,  gear  him  up  in  the  buggy,  and  became  quite 
an  expert  in  harnessing  him  when  required. 

At  school  she  was  slow  and  faulty,  incapable  of  con- 
tinued occupation  with  the  same  subject,  did  not  grasp 
things  easily,  and  had  no  memory.  For  music  and  draw- 
ing she  had  not  the  slightest  talent,  and  hated  feminine 
occupations.  She  never  cared  for  reading,  and  could 
bear  neither  books  or  newspapers.  She  was  stubborn  and 
capricious,  and  was  considered  by  her  teachers  and  friends 
as  an  abnormal  being. 

When  a  child  she  did  not  care  for  boys,  and  had  no 
companions  among  them;  later  on  she  never  cared  for 
men,  and  had  no  lovers.   She  was  quite  indifferent  towards 


U]?riirATUEAL  ABUSE  SODOMY. 


583 


tlie  young  men,  even  abrupt,  and  they  looked  upon  lier  as 
"being  "cracked'\ 

But  ^^as  far  as  she  can  remember''  she  had  an  extra- 
ordinary love  for  Freda  W.,  a  girl  of  her  own  age,  daughter 
of  a  friend  of  the  family.  Freda  was  a  tender  and  sweet 
girl;  the  love  was  mutual,  but  more  violent  on  the  part 
of  Alice.  It  increased  from  year  to  year  until  it  became 
a  passion.  A  year  previous  to  the  catastrophe  Freda's 
family  moved  away  to  another  town.  Alice  was  steeped 
in  sorrow;  a  very  tender  love  correspondence  now  ensued. 

Twice  Alice  went  to  visit  Freda's  family,  during  which 
time  the  two  girls,  as  witnesses  attested,  showed  ^^disgust- 
ing tenderness"  for  each  other.  They  were  seen  to  swing 
together  in  a  hammock  by  the  hour,  hugging  and  kissing 
each  other — "they  hugged  and  kissed  ad  nauseam''.  Alice 
was  ashamed  of  doing  this  in  public,  but  Freda  upbraided 
her  for  this. 

When  Freda  paid  a  visit  in  return,  Alice  made  an 
attempt  at  killing  her;  she  tried  to  pour  laudanum  down 
her  throat  whilst  asleep.  The  attempt  failed  because 
Freda  woke  up  in  time. 

Alice  then  took  the  poison  herself  before  Freda,  and 
was  taken  violently  ill.  The  reason  for  the  attempted 
murder  and  suicide  was  that  Freda  had  shown  some  in- 
terest in  two  young  men,  and  Alice  declared  she  could 
not  live  without  Freda's  love,  and  again  "she  wanted  to 
kill  herself  in  order  to  find  release  from  her  tortures  and 
make  Freda  free".  After  recovery  they  both  resumed  the 
amorous  correspondence,  even  with  more  fervour  than 
before. 

Soon  after  this  Alice  proposed  marriage  to  Freda.  She 
sent  her  an  engagement  ring,  and  threatened  death  if  she 
proved  disloyal.  They  were  to  assume  a  false  name  and 
fly  to  St.  Louis.  Alice  would  wear  men's  clothes  and 
earn  a  living  for  both;  she  would  also  grow  a  moustache, 
if  Freda  were  to  insist  upon  it,  as  she  felt  confident  that 
by  shaving  frequently  she  could  succeed  in  this. 

Just  before  the  attempted  elopement  the  plot  was 


584 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


discovered  and  prevented;  the  "engagement  ring''  was 
returned  together  with  other  love  tokens  to  Alice's  mother, 
and  all  intercourse  between  the  two  girls  was  stopped. 

Alice  was  completely  broken  up.  She  lost  her  sleep, 
refused  food,  became  listless  and  confused  (at  the  shops 
had  the  purchased  goods  put  down  to  the  name  of  her 
beloved).  The  ring  and  other  love  tokens — among  them 
a  thimble  of  Freda's  filled  with  the  latter's  blood — she 
concealed  in  a  corner  of  the  kitchen,  where  she  spent 
hours  in  contemplating  these  objects,  now  bursting  into 
peals  of  laughter,  now  into  floods  of  tears. 

She  became  emaciated,  the  face  assumed  an  anxious 
expression,  the  eyes  showed  "a  peculiar  strange  lustre"- 
When  she  learned  of  an  intended  visit  by  Freda  to  Mem- 
phis she  firmly  resolved  to  kill  her  if  she  could  not  possess 
her.  She  stole  a  razor  from  her  father  and  carefully 
concealed  it. 

In  the  meantime  she  started  a  correspondence  with 
Freda's  admirer,  simulating  friendship  for  him  in  order 
to  find  out  his  relations  to  Freda,  and  kept  herself  in- 
formed about  them. 

All  attempts  to  see  her  or  hear  from  her  made  by  Alice 
during  Freda's  sojourn  in  Memphis  failed.  She  waylaid 
Freda  in  the  street  and  once  almost  succeeded  in  carrying 
out  her  purpose  had  not  an  accident  prevented  her.  On 
the  very  day,  however,  when  Freda  was  leaving  town  and 
on  her  way  to  the  steamboat  Alice  overtook  her. 

She  felt  mortally  hurt  because  Freda,  although  walk- 
ing alongside  of  the  buggy  in  which  she  herself  was  riding, 
never  spoke  a  word  to  her,  but  only  gave  her  a  glance 
now  and  then.  She  jumped  from  the  vehicle  and  cut 
Freda  with  the  razor.  When  Freda's  sister  tried  to  beat 
her  off  she  became  frantic  and  blindly  cut  deep  gashes 
into  the  poor  girl's  neck,  one  reaching  almost  from  ear  to 
ear.  Whilst  everybody  was  busy  about  Freda  she  drove 
off  furiously  through  the  streets.  When  reaching  home 
she  immediately  told  her  mother  what  had  happened. 
She  could  not  comprehend  the  awfulness  of  the  deed; 


CULTIVA.TED  PEDEEASTY. 


585 


she  was  cold  and  unmoved  at  the  consequences  pointed 
out  to  her.  But  when  she  heard  of  the  death  and  the 
funeral  of  her  beloved  Freda  and  realised  her  loss  she 
burst  into  tears  and  passionate  wailings,  kissed  the  picture 
of  the  dead  girl  and  spoke  as  if  she  were  not  dead  but 
still  alive. 

During  the  trial  her  callous  behaviour  struck  every 
one;  the  deep  sorrow  of  her  own  people  did  not  affect 
her  in  the  least;  she  showed  absolute  indifference  to  the 
ethical  points  of  her  deed. 

At  moments,  however,  when  her  passionate  love  for 
Freda  and  her  jealousy  woke  up,  she  yielded  to  boundless 
grief  and  emotion.  ''Freda  has  hroken  her  faith!"  ''J, 
have  killed  her  because  I  loved  her  so!''  The  experts 
called  in  the  case  found  her  mental  development  on  a 
level  with  that  of  a  girl  of  thirteen  to  fourteen  years.  She 
comprehended  that  no  children  could  have  sprung  from 
her  "union"  with  Freda — but  that  a  "marriage"  between 
them  would  have  been  an  absurdity  she  would  not  admit. 
She  absolutely  denied  that  sexual  intercourse  between  the 
two  (even  mutual  masturbation)  ever  took  place.  But 
nothing  definite  about  this  point  or  about  her  vita  sex- 
ualis  per  acta  could  be  learned.  A  gynaecological  exam- 
ination of  her  person  was  not  made. 

The  verdict  was  insanity  ("Memphis  Medical  Month- 
ly/' 1892), 

Cultivated  Pederasty/ 

This  is  one  of  the  saddest  pages  in  the  history  of  human 
delinquencies. 

The  motives  that  bring  to  pederasty  a  man  originally 

^  For  interesting  histories  and  notes,  v,  Krauss,  "  Psychol,  des 
Verbrechens,"  p.  174;  Tardieu,  "Attentats";  Maschka,  "  Handb./V 
iii.,  p.  174.  This  vice  seems  to  have  come  through  Crete  from  Asia 
to  Greece,  and,  in  the  times  of  classic  Hellas,  to  have  been  widespread. 
Thence  it  spread  to  Rome,  where  it  flourished  luxuriantly.  In  Persia 
and  China  (where  it  is  actually  tolerated)  it  is  widespread,  as  it  alsQ 
is  in  Europe  (cf,  Tardieu,  Tarnowsky,  et  ai.). 


586 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


sexually  normal  and  of  sound  mind  are  various.  It  is 
used  temporarily  as  a  means  of  sexual  satisfaction  faute  de 
mieux — as  in  infrequent  cases  of  bestiality — where  absti- 
nence from  normal  sexual  indulgence  is  enforced/  It  thus 
occurs  on  shipboard  during  long  voyages,  in  prisons,  in 
watering-places,  etc.  It  is  highly  probable  that,  among 
men  subjected  to  such  conditions,  there  are  single  indi- 
viduals of  low  morals  and  great  sensuality,  or  actual  urn- 
ings,  who  seduce  the  others.  Lust,  imitation,  and  desire 
further  their  purpose. 

The  strength  of  the  sexual  instinct  is  most  markedly 
shown  by  the  fact  that  such  circumstances  are  sufficient 
to  overcome  repugnance  for  the  unnatural  act. 

Another  category  of  pederasts  is  made  up  of  old  roues 
that  have  become  supersatiated  in  normal  sexual  indulg- 
ence, and  who  find  in  pederasty  a  means  of  exciting 
sensual  pleasure,  the  act  being  a  new  method  of  stimula- 
tion. Thus  they  temporarily  renew  their  power,  that 
has  been  psychically  and  physically  reduced  to  so  low 
a  state.  The  new  sexual  situation  makes  them,  so  to 
speak,  relatively  potent,  and  renders  pleasure  possible  that 
it  is  no  longer  found  in  the  normal  intercourse  with 
women.  In  time  power  to  indulge  in  pederasty  also 
flickers  out.  The  individual  may  thus  finally  be  reduced 
to  passive  pederasty  as  a  stimulus  to  make  possible  tem- 
porary active  pederasty;  just  as,  occasionally,  flagellation 
or  looking  on  at  obscene  acts  (Maschkas  case  of  mutilation 
of  animals)  is  resorted  to  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  termination  of  sexual  activity  expresses  itself  in 
all  kinds  of  abuse  of  children — cunnilingus^  fellare,  and 
other  enormities. 

This  kind  of  pederasts  is  the  most  dangerous,  since 
they  deal  mostly  with  hoySj  and  ruin  them  in  body  and 
soul. 

^  Lombroso  ( "  Der  Verbrecher,  p.  20  et  seq. )  shows  that  also,  in 
case  of  animals,  intercourse  with  the  same  sex  occurs  where  normaJ 
indulgence  is  im|)ossible> 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


587 


In  reference  to  this,  the  experiences  of  Tarnowsky  {op. 
cit.,  p.  53  et  seq,),  gathered  from  society  in  St.  Petersburg, 
are  terrible.  The  places  where  pederasty  is  cultivated  are 
institutes.  Old  roues  and  urnings  play  the  role  of  seducers. 
At  first  it  is  difficult  for  the  person  to  carry  out  the  dis- 
gusting act.  Fancy  is  made  to  assist  by  calling  up  the 
image  of  a  woman.  Gradually,  with  practice,  the  un- 
natural act  becomes  easy,  and  at  last  the  individual,  like 
one  debased  by  masturbation,  becomes  relatively  impotent 
for  women,  and  lustful  enough  to  find  pleasure  in  the 
perverse  act.  Such  individuals,  under  circumstances,  give 
themselves  for  money. 

As  Tardieu,  Hofmann,  Simon  and  Taylor  show,  such 
fiends  are  not  infrequently  found  in  large  cities.  From 
numerous  statements  made  to  me  by  urnings,  it  is  learned 
that  actual  prostitution  and  houses  of  prostitution  for 
male-loving  men  exist  in  large  cities.  The  arts  of  coquetry 
used  by  these  male  prostitutes  are  noteworthy — ornament, 
perfumes,  feminine  styles  of  dress,  etc.,  to  attract  pederasts 
and  urnings.  This  imitation  of  feminine  peculiarities  is 
spontaneous  and  unconscious  in  congenital  and  in  some 
acquired  cases  of  (abnormal)  antipathic  sexual  instinct. 

The  following  lines  are  of  interest  to  the  psychologist, 
and  may  give  the  officers  of  the  law  important  clues  con- 
cerning the  social  life  and  practice  of  pederasts : — 

Coffignon,  "La  Corruption  a  Paris,''  p.  327,  divides 
active  pederasts  into  ''amateurs,^'  ''entreteneurs''  and  ''sou- 
teneurs''. 

The  '^amateurs''  {'Wivettes'')  are  debauched  persons, 
frequently  of  congenital  sexual  inversion,  of  position  and 
fortune,  who  are  forced  to  guard  themselves  against  detec- 
tion in  the  gratification  of  their  homosexual  desires.  For 
this  purpose  they  visit  brothels,  lodging-houses,  or  the 
private  houses  of  female  prostitutes,  who  are  usually  on 
good  terms  with  male  prostitutes.  Thus  they  escape 
blackmail. 


688 


FSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Some  of  these  ''amateurs'^  are  bold  enough  to  indulge 
their  vile  desires  in  public  places.  They  thus  run  the 
risk  of  arrest,  but  in  a  large  city  little  risk  of  blackmail. 
Danger  is  said  to  add  to  their  secret  pleasure. 

The  ^'enireteneurs"  are  old  sinners  who,  even  with  the 
danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  blackmailers,  cannot 
deny  themselves  the  pleasure  of  keeping  a  (male)  ^^mis- 
tress.'^ 

The  ''souteneurs''  are  pederasts  that  have  been  pun- 
ished, who  keep  their  ''jesus/^  whom  they  send  out  to  entice 
customers  {''faire  chanter  les  rivettes'')^  and  who  then,  at 
the  right  moment  if  possible,  appear  for  the  purpose  of 
plucking  the  victim. 

Not  infrequently  they  live  together  in  bands,  the  mem- 
bers, in  accordance  with  individual  desire,  living  together 
as  husbands  and  wives.  In  such  bands  there  are  formal 
marriages,  betrothals,  banquets  and  introductions  of  brides 
and  grooms  into  their  apartments. 

These  ''souteneurs''  train  up  their  ''jesus". 

The  passive  pederasts  are  "petits  jesus/'  ''jesv^f'  or 
"aunts". 

The  ''petits  jesus"  are  lost,  depraved  children,  placed 
by  accident  in  the  hands  of  active  pederasts,  who  seduce 
them,  and  reveal  to  them  the  horrible  means  of  earning  a 
livelihood,  either  as  ''entretenus"  or  as  male  street-walkers, 
with  or  without  ''souteneurs". 

The  slyest  and  choicest  "petits  jesus"  are  those  trained 
by  persons  who  instruct  these  children  in  the  art  of  female 
dress  and  manner. 

Gradually  they  emancipate  themselves  from  teacher 
and  master,  in  order  to  become  ''femmes  entretenu£s"  not 
infrequently  by  means  of  anonymous  denunciation  of 
their  "souteneurs"  to  the  police. 

It  is  the  object  of  the  "souteneur"  and  the  ''petit 
jesus"  to  make  the  latter  appear  young  as  long  as  possible 
by  means  of  all  the  arts  of  the  toilet. 

The  limit  of  age  is  about  twenty-five  years;  when 
they  all  become  "jesus"  and  "femmes  entretenues"  and  are 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


589 


then  often  sustained  by  several  ^^souteneurs''.  The  ''jesus'' 
fall  into  three  categories :  "filles  galantes/'  i.e.,  those  that 
have  fallen  again  into  the  hands  of  a  ''souteneur ' ;  ''pier- 
reuses''  (ordinary  street- walkers,  like  their  female  col- 
leagues) ;  and  "domestiques". 

The  "domestiques"  hire  themselves  out  to  active 
pederasts,  either  to  gratify  their  desires  or  to  obtain  "petits 
jesus'^  for  them. 

A  sub-group  of  these  "domestiques"  is  formed  by  such 
of  them  as  enter  the  service  of  "petits  jesus"  as  ^'femmes 
de  chamhre".  The  principal  object  of  these  "domestiques" 
is  to  use  their  positions  to  obtain  compromising  knowl- 
edge, with  which  they  later  practise  blackmail,  and  thus 
assure  themselves  ease  in  their  old  age. 

The  most  horrible  class  of  active  pederasts  is  made  up 
of  the  "aunts/' — i,e,^  the  "souteneurs"  of  (male)  prosti- 
tutes,— who,  though  normal  sexually,  are  morally  de- 
praved, and  practise  pederasty  (passive)  only  for  gain  or 
for  the  purpose  of  blackmail. 

The  wealthy  "amateurs"  have  their  reunions  and 
places  of  meeting,  where  the  passive  ones  appear  in  female 
attire,  and  horrible  orgies  take  place.  The  waiters,  musi- 
cians, etc.,  at  such  gatherings  are  all  pederasts.  The 
^'filles  galantes"  do  not  venture,  except  during  the  carnival, 
to  show  themselves  in  the  street  in  female  attire ;  but  they 
know  how  to  lend  to  their  appearance  something  indica- 
tive of  their  calling  by  means  of  style  of  dress,  etc.  They 
entice  by  means  of  gesture,  peculiar  movements  of  their 
hands,  etc.,  and  lead  their  victims  to  hotels,  baths,  or 
brothels. 

What  the  author  says  of  blackmail  is  generally  known. 
There  are  cases  where  pederasts  have  allowed  their  entire 
fortune  to  be  wrung  from  them. 

That  these  monstrosities  of  large  cities  in  the  shape 
of  petit s  jesus"  are  not  only  the  productions  of  profes- 
sional training,  but  rather  of  a  degenerated  mental  condi- 
tion is  apparent  from  the  researches  made  by  Laurent 
(^Tes  bisexues,'^  Paris,  1894).    He  describes      page  175 


590 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


of  his  book  under  the  title  of  ^^Hermaphroditisme  artifi* 
ciel"  manifestations  of  "effemination^  and  ''infantilisme'. 
They  refer  to  boys  who  with  incipient  puberty  show  no 
further  development  of  the  frame  and  the  genital  organs, 
have  no  growth  of  hair  about  the  face  or  pubes,  do  not 
change  the  voice  and  are  retrograde  in  their  mental 
faculties.  Often  it  happens  that  in  such  cases  secondary 
physical  and  psychical  female  characteristics  of  sexuality 
are  developed.  A  post  mortem  of  such  ''petits  garroches'' 
(Brouardel)  reveals  a  small  bladder,  mere  rudiments  of 
the  prostate,  absence  of  the  ischio  and  hulbo  cavernosi 
muscles,  infantile  penis,  and  a  very  narrow  pelvis. 

They  are  beyond  doubt  heavily  tainted  individuals  who 
have  experienced  at  the  time  of  puberty  a  sort  of  rudi- 
mentary sexual  change. 

Laurent  (p.  181)  makes  the  interesting  remark,  that 
from  the  ranks  of  these  ''Infantiles''  and  ''Effeminates^^  the 
professional  passive  pederasts  ("petits  jesus'^)  are  re- 
cruited. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  these  human  monstrosities 
are  predestined  for  and  trained,  so  to  speak,  in  their  abomi- 
nable career  by  degenerative  and  anthropological  factors. 

The  following  notice  from  a  Berlin  newspaper,  of 
February,  1884,  which  fell  into  my  hands  by  accident, 
seems  suited  to  show  something  of  the  life  and  customs  of 
pederasts  and  urnings : — 

^'The  Woman-haters'  Ball. — Almost  every  social  ele- 
ment of  Berlin  has  its  social  reunions — the  fat,  the  bald- 
headed,  the  bachelors,  the  widowers — and  why  not  the 
woman-haters?  This  species  of  men,  so  interesting  psy- 
chologically and  none  too  edifying,  had  a  great  ball  a  few 
days  ago.  ^Grand  Vienna  Fancy  Dress  Ball,' — ran  the 
notice.  The  sale  of  tickets  is  very  rigorous ;  they  wish  to 
be  very  exclusive.  Their  rendezvous  is  a  well-known 
dancing-hall.  We  enter  the  hall  about  midnight.  The 
merry  dancing  is  to  the  strains  of  a  fine  orchestra.  Thick 
tobacco-smoke,  veiling  the  gaslights,  does  not  allow  the  de- 
tails of  the  moving  mass  to  become  obvious;  only  during 


CULTIVATED  PEDEBASTY. 


591 


the  pause  between  the  dances  can  we  obtain  a  closer  view. 
The  masks  are  by  far  in  the  majority ;  black  dress-coats  and 
ball-gowns  are  seen  only  now  and  then. 

^^But  what  is  that?  The  lady  in  rose-tarletan,  that 
jnst  now  passed  us,  has  a  lighted  cigar  in  the  corner  of 
her  mouth,  and  puffs  like  a  trooper;  and  she  also  wears 
a  small,  blonde  beard,  lightly  painted  out.  And  yet  she 
is  talking  with  a  very  decollete  ^ange?  in  tricots,  who 
stands  there,  with  bare  arms  folded  behind  him,  likewise 
smoking.  The  two  voices  are  masculine,  and  the  conver- 
sation is  likewise  very  masculine;  it  is  about  the  ^d  

tobacco  smoke,  that  permits  no  air'.  Two  men  in  female 
attire!  A  conventional  clown  stands  there,  against  a 
pillar,  in  soft  conversation  with  a  ballet-dancer,  with  his 
arm  around  her  faultless  waist.  She  has  a  blonde  ^Titus- 
head'  sharp-cut  profile,  and  apparently  a  voluptuous  form. 
The  brilliant  ear-rings,  the  necklace  with  a  medallion,  the 
full,  round  shoulders  and  arms,  do  not  permit  a  doubt  of 
her  ^genuineness,'  until,  with  a  sudden  movement,  she 
disengages  herself  from  the  embracing  arm,  and,  yawning, 
moves  away,  saying,  in  a  deep  bass,  ^Emile,  you  are  too 
tiresome  to-day !'   The  ballet-dancer  is  also  a  male ! 

"Suspicious  now,  we  look  about  further.  We  almost 
suspect  that  here  the  world  is  topsy-turvy;  for  there  goes, 
or,  rather,  trips,  a  man — no,  no  man  at  all,  even  though 
he  wears  a  carefully  trained  moustache.  The  well-curled 
hair;  the  powdered  and  painted  face  with  the  blackened 
eyebrows;  the  golden  ear-rings;  the  bouquet  of  flowers 
reaching  from  the  left  shoulder  to  the  breast,  ornament- 
ing the  elegant  black  gown;  the  golden  bracelets  on  the 
wrists;  the  elegant  fan  in  the  white-gloved  hand — all 
these  things  are  anything  but  masculine.  And  how  he 
toys  with  the  fan!  How  he  dances  and  turns  and  trips 
and  lisps !  And  yet  kindly  ITature  made  this  doll  a  man. 
He  is  a  salesman  in  a  large  sweet  shop,  and  the  ballet- 
dancer  mentioned  is  his  ^colleague'. 

"At  a  little  corner-table  there  seems  to  be  a  great 
social  circle.    Several  elderly  gentlemen  press  around  a 


592 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


group  of  decollete  ladies,  who  sit  over  a  glass  of  wine  and — 
in  the  spirit  of  fun — make  jokes  that  are  none  too  deli- 
cate. Who  are  these  three  ladies?  Tadies!'  laughs  my 
knowing  friend.  ^Well,  the  one  on  the  right,  with  the 
brown  hair  and  the  short,  fancy  dress,  is  called  ^^But- 
terrieke,''  he  is  a  hairdresser;  the  second  one — the  blonde 
in  a  singer's  costume,  with  the  necklace  of  pearls — is 
known  here  by  the  name  of  ^^Miss  Ella  of  the  tight-rope," 
and  he  is  a  ladies'  tailor ;  and  the  third — that  is  the  widely 
celebrated  ^^Lottie".' 

'^But  that  person  cannot  possibly  be  a  man?  That 
waist,  that  bust,  those  classic  arms,  the  whole  air  and 
person  are  markedly  feminine ! 

"I  am  told  that  ^Lottie'  was  once  a  bookkeeper. 
To-day  she,  or,  rather,  he,  is  exclusively  ^Lottie,'  and 
takes  pleasure  in  deceiving  men  about  his  sex  as  long  as 
possible.  ^Lottie'  is  singing  a  song  that  would  hardly 
do  for  a  drawing-room,  in  a  high  voice,  acquired  by  years 
of  practice,  which  many  a  soprano  might  envy.  ^Lottie' 
has  also  forked'  as  a  female  comedian.  Now  the  quon- 
dam bookkeeper  has  so  entered  into  the  female  role  that 
he  appears  on  the  street  in  female  attire  almost  exclu- 
sively, and,  as  the  people  with  whom  he  lodges  state,  uses 
an  embroidered  night-dress. 

"On  closer  examination  of  the  assembly,  to  my  as- 
tonishment, I  discover  acquaintances  on  all  hands:  my 
shoemaker,  whom  I  should  have  taken  for  anything  but  a 
woman-hater — he  is  a  troubadour,'  with  sword  and  plume ; 
and  his  ^Leonora,'  in  the  costume  of  a  bride,  is  accus- 
tomed to  place  my  favourite  brand  of  cigars  before  me 
in  a  certain  cigar-store.  ^Leonora,'  who,  during  an  inter- 
mission, removes  her  gloves,  I  recognise  with  certainty 
by  her  large,  blue  hands.  Eight!  There  is  my  haber- 
dasher, also;  he  moves  about  in  a  questionable  costume 
as  Bacchus,  and  is  the  swain  of  a  repugnantly  bedecked 
Diana,  who  works  as  a  waiter  in  a  beer-restaurant.  The 
real  ^ladies'  of  the  ball  cannot  be  described  here.  They 
associate  only  with  one  another,  and  avoid  the  woman- 


CULTIVATED  PEDBKASTY. 


593 


hating  men ;  and  the  latter  are  exclusive,  and  amuse  them- 
selves, absolutely  ignoring  the  charms  of  the  women.'^ 

These  facts  deserve  the  careful  attention  of  the  police, 
who  should  be  placed  in  a  position  to  cope  with  male  prosti- 
tution, as  they  now  do  with  that  of  women. 

Male  prostitution  is  certainly  much  more  dangerous  to 
society  than  that  of  females;  it  is  the  darkest  stain  on 
the  history  of  humanity. 

From  the  statements  of  a  high  police  official  of  Berlin, 
I  learn  that  the  police  are  conversant  with  the  male  demi- 
monde of  the  German  capital,  and  do  all  they  can  to  sup- 
press blackmail  among  pederasts — a  practice  which  often 
does  not  stop  short  of  murder. 

The  foregoing  facts  justify  the  wish  that  the  law^ 
maker  of  the  future  may,  for  reasons  of  utility,  at  least, 
abandon  the  prosecution  of  pederasty. 

With  reference  to  this  point,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  French  Code  does  not  punish  it  so  long  as  it  does 
not  become  an  offence  to  public  decency.  Probably  for 
politico-legal  reasons,  the  new  Italian  Penal  Code  passes 
over  the  crime  of  unnatural  abuse  in  silence,  as  do  the 
statutes  of  Holland  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  Belgium  and 
Spain. 

In  how  far  such  cultivated  pederasts  are  to  be  regarded 
as  mentally  and  morally  sound  may  remain  an  open  ques- 
tion. The  majority  of  them  suffer  with  genital  neuroses. 
At  least  in  these  cases  there  are  the  stages  of  transition  to 
acquired  pathological  antipathic  sexual  instinct  (see  p. 
286).  The  responsibility  of  these  individuals,  who  are 
certainly  much  lower  than  the  women  who  prostitute  them- 
selves, cannot,  generally  speaking,  be  questioned. 

The  various  categories  of  male-loving  men,  with  respect 
to  the  manner  of  sexual  indulgence,  may  be  thus  char- 
acterised in  general: — 

The  congenital  urning  becomes  a  pederast  only  excep- 
tionally, and  eventually  resorts  to  it  after  having  practised 
and  exhausted  all  the  possible  immoral  acts  with  males. 

38  .r 


594 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


Passive  pederasty  is  to  him  the  ideally  and  practically 
adequate  form  of  the  sexual  act.  He  practises  active 
pederasty  only  to  please  another.  The  most  important 
point  here  is  the  congenital  and  unchangeable  perversion 
of  the  sexual  instinct. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  pederast  hy  cultivation.  He 
has  once  acted  normally  sexually,  or  at  least  had  normal 
inclinations,  and  occasionally  has  intercourse  with  the 
opposite  sex.  His  sexual  perversity  is  neither  congenital 
nor  unchangeable.  He  begins  with  pederasty  and  ends  in 
other  perverse  sexual  acts,  induced  by  weakness  of  the 
centres  for  erection  and  ejaculation.  At  the  height  of  his 
power  his  sexual  desire  is  not  for  passive,  but  for  active 
pederasty.  He  yields  to  passive  pederasty  only  to  please 
another;  for  money,  in  the  role  of  a  male  prostitute;  or 
as  a  means,  when  virility  is  declining,  to  make  active 
pederasty  still  occasionally  possible. 

A  horrible  act,  that  must  be  alluded  to,  in  conclusion, 
is  pcedicatio  mulierum^  and  even  uxorum.  Sensual  indi- 
viduals sometimes  do  it  with  hardened  prostitutes,  or 
even  with  their  wives.  Tardieu  gives  examples  where 
men,  usually  practising  coitus,  sometimes  indulged  in 
pederasty  with  their  wives.  Occasionally  fear  of  a  repeti- 
tion of  pregnancy  may  induce  the  man  to  perform  and 
the  woman  to  tolerate  the  act. 

Case  237.  Imputation  of  pederasty  that  was  not 
proved.    Resume  from  the  legal  proceedings : — 

On  30th  May,  1888,  S.,  chemist,  of  H.,  in  an  anony- 
mous letter,  was  accused  by  his  stepfather  of  having  im- 
moral relations  with  G.,  aged  nineteen,  the  son  of  a  butcher. 
S.  received  the  letter,  and,  astounded  by  its  contents,  has- 

^Cf.  Tardieu,  "Attentats,"  p.  198;  Martineau,  "Deutsche  Med. 
Zeitung,"  1882,  p.  9;  Virchow's  "  Jahrb.,"  1881,  i.,  p.  533;  Coutagne, 
"  Lyon  Medical,"  Nos.  35,  36.  Eulenhurg  in  "  Zulzer's  Klin.  Handb. 
d.  Harn-  u.  Sexual-organe,"  iv.  Abtheil.,  p.  45,  relates  cases  of  his 
own  experience,  in  which  women  brought  actions  for  divorce  on  the 
ground  that  the  husband,  in  order  to  avoid  offspring,  practised 
pwdicatio  only. 


CULTIVATED  PEDEKASTY. 


595 


tened  to  his  master,  who  promised  to  proceed  discreetly 
in  the  matter,  and  to  ascertain  from  the  authorities  what 
was  being  said  about  it  by  the  public. 

On  the  next  morning,  G.,  who  lived  in  the  house  of 
S.,  was  arrested.  At  the  time  he  was  suffering  from 
gonorrhoea  and  orchitis.  S.  tried  to  induce  the  authori- 
ties to  release  G.,  and  advised  caution,  but  he  was  refused. 
In  his  statement  to  the  judge,  S.  said  that  he  became 
acquainted  with  G.  on  the  street,  three  years  previously, 
and  then  saw  no  more  of  him  until  the  fall  of  1887,  when 
he  met  him  in  his  father's  shop.  After  November  G. 
supplied  S.'s  kitchen  with  meat — coming  in  the  evening 
to  get  the  order,  and  bringing  the  meat  the  next  morning. 
Thus  S.  gradually  got  well  acquainted  with  G.,  and  came 
to  have  a  very  friendly  feeling  for  him.  When  S.  fell  ill 
and  was,  for  the  most  part,  confined  to  his  bed  until  the 
middle  of  May,  1888,  G.  gave  him  so  much  attention  that 
S.  and  his  wife  were  much  attracted  to  him  on  account 
of  his  harmless,  child-like  and  happy  disposition.  S. 
showed  and  explained  to  him  his  collection  of  curiosities, 
and  they  spent  the  evenings  pleasantly  together,  the  wife 
also  being  usually  present;  besides,  S.  and  G.  experimented 
in  making  sausages,  jelly,  etc.  In  February,  1888,  G. 
fell  ill  with  gonorrhoea.  S.,  being  his  friend,  and  having 
studied  medicine  for  several  terms,  took  care  of  G.,  pro- 
cured medicine  for  him,  etc.  In  May,  G.  being  still  ill, 
and,  for  several  reasons,  inclined  to  leave  home,  S.  and 
his  wife  took  him  into  their  own  home  to  care  for  him. 
S.  denied  the  truth  of  all  the  suspicions  that  had  been 
raised  by  this  revelation,  and  defended  himself  by  pointing 
to  his  life  of  previous  respectability,  his  education,  and  to 
the  fact  that  G.,  at  the  time,  was  suffering  with  a  disgust- 
ing, contagious  disease,  and  that  he  himself  had  a  painful 
affection  (nephritic  calculus,  with  occasional  attacks  of 
colic). 

Opposed  to  this  statement  of  S.'s  must  be  mentioned 
the  facts  that  were  brought  out  in  court,  and  which  led 
to  conviction  in  the  first  trial. 


696 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


The  relation  of  S.  to  G.  had,  by  reason  of  its  obvious- 
ness, given  cause  for  remark  by  private  individuals,  as 
well  as  by  those  in  public  houses.  G.  spent  almost  all  his 
evenings  with  S.'s  family,  and,  finally,  came  to  be  quit© 
at  home  there.  They  took  walks  together.  Once,  while 
out  on  such  a  walk,  S.  said  to  G.  that  he  was  a  pretty 
fellow,  and  that  he  (S.)  was  very  fond  of  him.  On  the 
same  occasion,  there  was  also  talk  of  sexual  matters,  and 
also  of  pederasty.  S.  said  he  touched  on  these  subjects 
only  to  warn  G.  With  reference  to  the  intercourse  at 
home,  it  was  proved  that  occasionally  S.,  while  sitting  on 
a  sofa,  embraced  G.,  and  kissed  him.  This  happened  in 
the  presence  of  the  wife,  as  well  as  of  the  servant-girls. 
When  G.  was  ill  with  gonorrhoea,  S.  instructed  him  in 
the  method  of  using  a  syringe,  and,  at  the  time,  took  the 
penis  in  his  hand.  G.  testified  that  S.,  in  answer  to  his 
question  why  he  was  so  fond  of  him,  said,  ^'I  don't  know 
myself.  When,  one  day,  G.  remained  away,  S.,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  complained  of  it  to  him  when  he  re- 
turned. S.  also  told  him  that  his  marriage  was  unhappy, 
and,  in  tears,  begged  G.  not  to  leave  him;  that  he  must 
take  the  place  of  his  wife. 

From  all  this  resulted  the  just  accusation,  that  the 
relation  between  the  two  men  had  a  sexual  direction. 
The  fact  that  all  was  open  and  known  to  everybody,  accord- 
ing to  the  complaint,  did  not  speak  for  the  harmlessness 
of  the  relation,  but  more  for  the  intensity  of  the  passion 
of  S.  The  spotless  life  of  the  accused  was  allowed,  as 
well  as  his  honesty  and  gentleness.  The  probability  of 
an  unhappy  marriage,  and  that  S.  was  of  a  very  sensual 
nature,  was  shown. 

During  the  course  of  the  trial,  G.  was  repeatedly  ex- 
amined by  the  medical  experts.     He  was  scarcely  of 
medium  size,  pale,  and  of  powerful  frame ;  penis  and  testi 
cles  were  very  perfectly  developed  (large). 

In  consonance  with  the  accusation,  it  was  found  that 
the  anus  was  pathologically  changed,  in  that  there  were 
no  wrinkles  in  the  skin  about  it  and  the  sphincter  was 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY.  '  597 

relaxed;  and  it  was  presumed  that  these  changes  pointed 
to  the  probability  of  passive  pederasty. 

The  conviction  was  based  on  these  facts.  The  judg- 
ment passed  recognised  that  the  relation  existing  between 
the  culprits  did  not  necessarily  point  to  unnatural  abuses, 
any  more  than  did  the  physical  conditions  found  on  the 
person  of  G. 

However,  by  reason  of  the  combination  of  the  two 
facts,  the  court  was  convinced  of  the  guilt  of  both  culprits, 
and  held  it  proved:  ^^That  the  abnormal  condition  of 
G.^s  anus  had  been  caused  by  the  frequently  repeated  in- 
troduction of  the  penis  of  S.  and  that  G.  voluntarily  per- 
mitted the  performance  of  this  immoral  act  on  himself.^' 

Thus  the  conditions  of  §  175,  R.  St.  G.  B.,  seemed  to 
be  covered.  In  passing  sentence  there  was  consideration 
of  S.^s  education,  which  made  him  appear  to  be  G.^s 
seducer;  in  G.'s  case,  this  fact  and  his  youth  were  given 
weight;  and  the  previous  respectability  of  both  was  held 
in  view.  Thus  S.  was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  eight 
months,  and  G.  for  four  months. 

They  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  Leipzig,  and 
prepared  themselves,  in  case  the  appeal  should  be  denied, 
to  collect  evidence  sufficient  to  call  for  a  new  trial. 

They  subjected  themselves  to  examination  and  ob- 
servation by  distinguished  experts.  The  latter  declared 
that  G.^s  anus  presented  no  signs  of  indulgence  in  passive 
pederasty. 

Since  it  seemed  of  importance  to  those  interested  to 
make  clear  the  psychological  aspect  of  the  case,  which 
was  not  touched  on  at  the  trial,  the  author  was  intrusted 
with  the  examination  and  observation  of  S.  and  G. 

Results  of  the  Personal  Examination,  from  11th  to 
ISth  December,,  1888,  in  Graz: — "S.,  aged  thirty-seven; 
two  years  married,  without  children.  Ex-director  of  the 
City  Laboratory  of  H.  He  com^s  of  a  father  who  is  said 
to  have  been  nervous,  owing  to  great  activity;  who  had 
an  apoplectic  attack  in  his  fifty-seventh  year,  and  died, 


598 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  of  another  attack  of  apoplexy. 
His  mother  is  living,  and  is  described  as  a  strong  person, 
who  has  been  nervous  for  years.  Her  mother  reached 
quite  an  old  age,  and  is  said  to  have  died  of  a  cerebellar 
tumour.  A  brother  of  the  mother's  father  is  said  to  have 
been  a  drinker.  The  paternal  grandfather  died  early,  of 
softening  of  the  brain. 

^'S.  has  two  brothers,  who  are  in  perfect  health. 

^^He  states  that  he  is  of  nervous  temperament,  and  has 
been  of  strong  constitution.  After  articular  rheumatism, 
which  he  had  in  his  fourteenth  year,  he  suffered  with 
great  nervousness  for  some  months.  Thereafter  he  often 
suffered  with  rheumatic  pains,  palpitation,  and  short- 
ness of  breath.  These  symptoms  gradually  disappeared 
with  sea-bathing.  Seven  years  ago  he  had  gonorrh(Ba. 
This  disease  became  chronic,  and  for  a  long  time  caused 
bladder  difficulty. 

^^In  188Y  he  had  his  first  attack  of  renal  colic,  and  he 
had  such  attacks  repeatedly  during  the  winter  of  1887 
and  1888,  until  16th  May,  1888,  when  quite  a  large  renal 
calculus  was  passed.  Since  then  his  condition  had  been 
quite  satisfactory.  While  suffering  with  stone,  during 
coitus,  at  the  moment  of  ejaculation,  he  felt  severe  pain 
in  the  urethra  and  the  same  pain  when  urinating. 

^^With  reference  to  his  life,  S.  states  that  he  attended 
the  Gymnasium  until  he  was  fourteen,  but  after  that, 
owing  to  the  results  of  his  severe  illness,  he  studied  pri- 
vately. He  then  spent  four  years  in  a  chemist's  shop, 
and  then  studied  medicine  for  six  semesters  at  the  Uni- 
versity, serving,  in  the  war  of  1870,  as  a  voluntary  hos- 
pital assistant.  Since  he  had  no  certificate  of  graduation 
from  the  Gymnasium,  he  gave  up  the  study  of  medicine, 
and  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy.  Then 
he  served  in  the  Museum  of  Minerals  in  K.,  and  later  as 
assistant  in  the  Mineralogical  Institute  of  H.  Thereafter 
he  made  special  studies  in  the  chemistry  of  food-stuffs,  and 
five  years  ago  became  director  of  the  City  Laboratory. 

^^He  makes  all  these  statements  in  a  prompt,  precise 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


599 


manner,  and  does  not  think  long  about  his  answers;  so 
that  one  is  more  and  more  led  to  think  that  he  is  a  man 
who  loves  and  speaks  the  truth — the  more,  since,  on  the 
following  day,  his  statements  are  identical.  With  reference 
to  his  vita  sexualis,  S.,  in  a  modest,  delicate  and  open 
way,  states  that  in  his  eleventh  year  he  began  to  have  a 
knowledge  of  the  difference  of  the  sexes,  and  for  some 
time,  until  his  fourteenth  year,  was  given  to  onanism. 
He  first  had  coitus  at  eighteen,  and  thereafter  indulged 
moderately.  His  sensual  desire  had  never  been  very  great, 
but,  until  lately,  the  sexual  act  had  been  normal  in  every 
way,  and  accompanied  by  gratifying  pleasurable  feeling 
and  full  virility.  Since  his  marriage,  two  years  ago,  he 
had  cohabited  with  his  wife  exclusively.  He  had  married 
his  wife  out  of  love,  and  still  loved  her,  having  coitus  with 
her  at  least  several  times  a  week.  The  wife,  who  was 
also  at  hand,  confirmed  these  statements. 

^^All  cross-questioning  with  reference  to  a  perversion  of 
sexual  feeling  toward  men  S.  answered  repeatedly  in  the 
negative,  to  repeated  examination,  and  that  without  con- 
tradiction or  any  thought  of  the  answers.  Even  when^ 
in  order  to  trap  him,  he  is  told  that  the  proof  of  a  perverse 
sexual  instinct  would  be  of  avail  in  the  trial,  he  sticks  to 
his  statements.  One  gains  the  important  impression  that 
S.  has  not  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  male-love. 
Thus  it  is  learned  that  his  lascivious  dreams  have  never 
been  about  men;  that  he  is  interested  only  in  female 
nudity;  that  he  liked  to  dance  with  ladies,  etc.  ISTo  traces 
of  any  kind  of  sexual  inclination  for  his  own  sex  can  be 
discovered  in  S.  With  reference  to  his  relations  with  G., 
S.  expresses  himself  exactly  as  he  did  at  his  examination 
before  the  court.  In  explanation  of  his  partiality  for  G., 
he  can  only  say  that  he  is  nervous,  and  a  man  of  feeling 
and  great  sensibility,  and  very  sensitive  to  friendliness. 
During  his  illness  he  had  felt  very  lonesome  and  depressed ; 
his  wife  had  frequently  been  with  her  parents;  and  thus 
it  had  happened  that  he  had  become  friendly  with  G.,  who 
was  so  gentle  and  kind.   He  still  had  a  weakness  for  him, 


600 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


and  felt  remarkably  quiet  and  contented  while  in  his  so- 
ciety. 

"He  had  had  two  such  close  friendships  previously: 
when  he  was  yet  a  student,  with  a  corps-brother,  a  Dr. 
A.,  whom  he  also  embraced  and  kissed;  later,  with  a 
Baron  M.  When  it  happened  that  he  could  not  see  him 
for  a  few  days,  he  became  depressed,  and  even  cried. 

"He  also  had  a  similar  feeling  and  attachment  for 
animals.  Thus  he  had  mourned  the  loss  of  a  poodle  that 
died  a  short  time  ago,  as  if  it  had  been  a  member  of  the 
family;  he  had  often  kissed  the  animal.  (On  relating 
this,  the  tears  came  to  his  eyes.)  His  brother  confirmed 
these  statements,  with  the  remark,  with  reference  to  his 
brother's  remarkable  friendship  for  A.  and  M.,  that  in 
these  instances  there  was  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of 
sexual  colouring  or  relation.  The  most  careful  and  de- 
tailed examination  of  S.  gave  not  the  slightest  reason  for 
such  a  presumption. 

"He  states  that  he  never  had  the  slightest  sexual  feel- 
ing for  G.,  to  say  nothing  of  erection  or  sexual  desire.  His 
partiality  for  G.,  which  bordered  on  jealousy,  S.  explained 
as  due  merely  to  his  sentimental  temperament  and  his  in- 
ordinate friendship.  G.  was  still  as  dear  to  him  as  if  he 
were  his  son. 

"It  is  worthy  of  note  that  S.  stated  that  when  G.  told 
him  about  his  love  adventures  with  girls,  it  had  hurt  him 
only  because  G.  was  in  danger  of  injuring  himself  and 
ruining  his  health  by  dissipation.  He  had  never  felt  hurt 
himself  by  this.  If  he  knew  a  good  girl  for  G.,  he  would 
be  glad  to  rejoice  with  him  and  do  all  he  could  to  promote 
their  marriage. 

"S.  states  that  it  was  first  in  the  course  of  his  legal 
examination  that  he  saw  how  he  had  been  careless  in  his 
intercourse  with  G.,  by  causing  gossip.  His  openness  he 
explained  as  due  to  the  innocence  of  their  friendship. 

"It  is  worthy  of  note  that  S.'s  wife  never  noticed  any- 
thing suspicious  in  the  intercourse  between  her  husband 
and  G.^  though  the  most  simple  wife  would  instinctively 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


601 


notice  anything  of  that  nature.  Mrs.  S.  had  also  made 
no  opposition  to  receiving  G.  into  the  house.  On  this 
point  she  remarked  that  the  spare-room  in  which  G.  lay 
ill  was  on  the  second  floor,  while  the  living  apartments 
were  on  the  fourth;  and,  further,  that  S.  never  associated 
alone  with  G.  as  long  as  he  was  in  the  house.  She  states 
that  she  is  convinced  of  her  husband's  innocence,  and  that 
she  loves  him  as  before. 

"S.  states  freely  that  formerly  he  had  often  kissed 
G.,  and  talked  with  him  about  sexual  matters.  G.  was 
much  given  to  women,  and  in  friendship  he  had  often 
warned  him  about  sexual  dissipation,  particularly  when 
G.,  as  often  happened,  did  not  look  well.  He  had  once 
said  that  G.  was  a  handsome  fellow;  it  was  in  a  perfectly 
harmless  relation. 

"The  kissing  of  G.  had  been  due  to  inordinate  friend- 
ship, when  G.  had  shown  him  some  particular  attention, 
or  pleased  him  especially.  In  the  act  he  had  never  had 
any  sexual  feeling.  When  he  had  now  and  then  dreamed 
of  G.,  it  was  in  a  perfectly  harmless  way." 

It  appeared  of  great  importance  to  the  author  to  form 
also  an  opinion  of  G.'s  personality.  On  12th  December 
the  desired  opportunity  was  given,  and  G.  was  carefully 
examined. 

G.  was  a  young  man,  aged  twenty,  of  delicate  build, 
whose  development  corresponded  with  his  years;  and  he 
appeared  to  be  neuropathic  and  sensual.  The  genitals  were 
normal  and  well  developed.  The  author  thought  he  might 
be  permitted  to  pass  over  the  condition  of  the  anus,  as  he 
did  not  feel  called  upon  to  pass  judgment  upon  it.  Pro- 
longed association  with  G.  gave  one  the  impression  that 
he  was  a  harmless,  kind,  and  artless  man,  light-minded, 
but  not  morally  depraved.  IsTothing  in  his  dress  or  man- 
ner indicated  perverse  sexual  feeling.  There  could  not 
be  the  slightest  suspicion  that  he  was  a  male  courtesan. 

When  G.  was  introduced  in  medias  res,  he  stated  that  S. 
and  he,  feeling  their  innocence,  had  told  the  matter  as  it 
actually  was,  and  on  this  the  whole  trial  had  been  based. 


602 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


At  first,  S/s  friendship,  and  especially  the  kissing, 
had  seemed  remarkable,  even  to  him.  Later  he  had  con- 
vinced himself  that  it  was  merely  friendship,  and  had 
then  thought  no  more  about  it. 

G.  had  looked  upon  S.  as  a  father-like  friend;  for  he 
was  so  unselfish,  and  loved  him  so. 

The  expression  ^^handsome  fellow''  was  made  when 
G.  had  a  love-affair,  and  when  S.  expressed  his  fears 
about  a  happy  future  for  G.  At  that  time  S.  had  com- 
forted him,  and  said  that  his  (G.'s)  appearance  was  pleas- 
ing, and  that  he  would  make  an  eligible  match. 

Once  S.  had  complained  to  him  (G.)  that  his  wife  was 
inclined  to  drink,  and  burst  into  tears.  G.  was  touched 
by  his  friend's  unhappiness.  On  this  occasion  S.  had 
kissed  him,  and  begged  for  his  friendship,  and  asked  him 
to  visit  him  frequently. 

S.  had  never  spontaneously  directed  the  conversation 
to  sexual  matters.  G.  once  asked  what  pederasty  was,  of 
which  he  had  heard  much  while  in  England;  and  S.  had 
explained  it  to  him. 

G.  acknowledged  that  he  was  sensual.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  he  had  been  made  acquainted  with  sexual  matters 
by  schoolmates.  He  had  never  masturbated,  had  first 
had  coitus  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  had  since  visited 
brothels  frequently.  He  had  never  felt  any  inclination 
for  his  own  sex,  and  had  never  experienced  any  sexual 
excitement  when  S.  kissed  him.  He  had  always  had 
pleasure  in  coitus  normally  performed.  His  lascivious 
dreams  had  always  been  of  women.  With  indignation^ 
and  pointing  to  his  descent  from  a  healthy  and  respectable 
family,  he  repelled  the  insinuation  of  having  been  given  to 
passive  pederasty.  Until  the  gossip  about  them  came  to 
his  ears,  he  had  been  innocent  and  devoid  of  suspicion. 
The  anal  anomalies  he  tried  to  explain  in  the  same  way 
that  he  did  at  the  trial.    Auto-masturbation  denied. 

It  should  be  noted  that  Mr.  J.  S.  claimed  to  be  no  less 
astonished  by  the  charge  against  his  brother  of  male-love 
than  those  more  closely  associated  with  him.     Yet  he 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


603 


could  not  understand  what  attached  his  brother  to  G. ; 
and  all  the  explanations  which  S.  made  to  him  concerning 
his  relation  to  G.  were  vain. 

The  author  took  the  trouble  to  observe  S.  and  G., 
in  a  natural  way,  while  they  were  dining,  in  company 
with  S/s  brother  and  Mrs.  S.,  in  Graz.  This  observation 
revealed  not  the  slightest  sign  of  improper  friendship. 

The  general  impression  which  S.  made  on  me  was 
that  of  a  nervous,  sanguine,  somewhat  overstrained  in- 
dividual, but,  at  the  same  time,  kind,  open-hearted,  and 
very  emotional. 

S.  was  physically  strong,  somewhat  corpulent,  with 
a  symmetrical,  brachycephalic  cranium.  The  genitals  were 
well  developed;  the  penis  somewhat  bellied;  the  prepuce 
slightly  hypertrophied. 

Opinion. — Pederasty  is,  unfortunately,  not  infrequent 
among  mankind  to-day;  but  still,  occurring  among  the 
peoples  of  Europe,  it  is  an  unusual,  perverse,  and  even 
monstrous  manner  of  sexual  gratification.  It  presumes 
a  congenital  or  acquired  perversion  of  the  sexual  instinct, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  defect  of  moral  sense  that  is  either 
original  or  acquired,  as  a  result  of  pathological  influences. 

Medico-legal  science  is  thoroughly  conversant  with 
the  physical  and  psychical  conditions  from  which  this 
aberration  of  the  sexual  instinct  arises;  and  in  the  con- 
crete and  doubtful  case  it  seems  requisite  to  ascertain 
whether  these  empirical,  subjective  conditions  necessary 
for  pederasty  are  present.  It  is  essential  to  distinguish 
between  active  and  passive  pederasty. 

Active  pederasty  occurs : — 

I.  As  a  non-pathological  phenomenon : — 

1.  As  a  means  of  sexual  gratification,  in  case  of  great 
sexual  desire,  with  enforced  abstinence  from  natural  sexual 
intercourse. 

2.  In.  old  debauchees,  who  have  become  satiated  with 
normal  sexual  intercourse,  and  more  or  less  impotent,  and 
also  morally  depraved;  and  who  resort  to  pederasty  in 
order  to  excite  their  lust  with  this  new  stimulus,  and  aid 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


their  virility  that  has  sunk  so  low  psychically  and  physi- 
cally. 

3.  Traditionally,  among  certain  barbarous  races  that 
are  devoid  of  morality. 

II.  As  a  pathological  phenomenon : — 

1.  Upon  the  basis  of  congenital  sexual  inversion,  with 
repugnance  for  sexual  intercourse  with  women,  or  even 
absolute  incapability  of  it.  But,  as  even  Casper  knew, 
pederasty,  under  such  conditions,  is  very  infrequent.  The 
so-called  urning  satisfies  himself  with  a  man  by  means 
of  passive  or  mutual  onanism,  or  by  means  of  coitus-like 
acts  (e.g.^  coitus  inter  femora)  ;  and  he  resorts  to  pederasty 
only  very  exceptionally,  as  a  result  of  intense  sexual  de- 
sire, or  with  a  low  or  lowered  moral  sense,  out  of  desire 
to  please  another. 

2.  On  the  basis  of  acquired  pathological  sexual  inver- 
sion : — 

(a)  As  a  result  of  onanism  practised  through  many 
years,  which  finally  causes  impotence  for  women  with 
continuance  of  intense  sexual  desire. 

(fe)  As  a  result  of  severe  mental  disease  (senile  demen- 
tia, brain-softening  in  the  insane,  etc.)  in  which,  as  experi- 
ence teaches,  an  inversion  of  the  sexual  instinct  may  take 
place. 

Passive  pederasty  occurs: — 

I.  As  a  non-pathological  phenomenon: — 

1.  In  individuals  of  the  lowest  class,  who,  having  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  seduced  in  boyhood  by  debauchees, 
endured  pain  and  disgust  for  the  sake  of  money,  and  be- 
came depraved  morally,  so  that,  in  more  mature  years, 
they  have  fallen  so  low  that  they  take  pleasure  in  being 
male  prostitutes. 

2.  Under  circumstances  analogous  to  those  of  L,  1 — 
as  a  remuneration  to  another  for  having  allowed  active 
pederasty. 

II.  As  a  pathological  phenomenon : — 

1.  In  individuals  affected  with  sexual  inversion,  with 


CULTIVATED  PEDERASTY. 


605 


endurance  of  pain  and  disgust,  as  a  return  to  men  for  the 
bestowal  of  sexual  favors. 

2.  In  urnings  who  feel  toward  men  like  women,  out 
of  desire  and  lust.  In  such  female-men  there  is  horror 
femince  and  absolute  incapability  for  sexual  intercourse 
with  women.   Character  and  inclinations  are  feminine. 

The  empirical  facts  that  have  been  gathered  by  legal 
medicine  and  psychiatry  are  all  included  in  this  classifi- 
cation. Before  the  court  of  medical  science,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  prove  that  a  man  belonged  to  one  of  the 
above  categories  in  order  to  carry  the  conviction  that  he 
was  a  pederast. 

In  the  life  and  character  of  S.,  one  searched  in  vain 
for  signs  which  placed  him  in  one  of  the  categories  of 
active  pederasts  which  science  has  established.  He  was 
neither  one  forced  to  sexual  abstinence,  nor  one  made 
impotent  for  women  by  debauchery;  neither  was  he  con- 
genitally  male-loving,  nor  alienated  from  women  by  mas- 
turbation, and  attracted  to  men  through  continuance  of 
sexual  desire;  and,  finally,  he  was  not  sexually  perverse 
as  a  result  of  severe  mental  disease. 

In  fact,  the  general  conditions  necessary  for  the  occur- 
rence of  pederasty  were  wanting  in  him — moral  imbecility 
or  moral  depravity,  on  the  one  hand,  and  inordinate  sexual 
desire  on  the  other. 

It  was  likewise  impossible  to  classify  the  accomplice, 
G.,  in  any  of  the  empirical  categories  of  passive  pederasty; 
for  he  possessed  neither  the  peculiarities  of  the  male  pros- 
titute nor  the  clinical  marks  of  eff emination ;  and  he  had 
not  the  anthropological  and  clinical  stigmata  of  the  female- 
man.   He  was, .in  fact,  the  very  opposite  of  all  this. 

In  order  to  make  a  pederastic  relation  between  the 
two  plausible  medico-scientifically,  it  would  have  been 
requisite  for  S.  to  present  the  antecedents  and  marks  of 
the  active  pederasts  of  I.,  2,  and  G.,  those  of  the  passive 
pederasts  of  II.,  1  or  2. 

The  assumption  lying  at  the  basis  of  the  verdict  waa 
from  a  psychological  standpoint,  legally  untenable. 


606 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


With  the  same  right,  every  man  might  be  considered 
a  pederast.  It  remains  to  consider  whether  the  explana- 
tions given  by  Dr.  S.  and  G.  of  their  remarkable  friend- 
ship are  psychologically  valid. 

Psychologically  it  is  not  without  parallel  that  so  senti- 
mental and  eccentric  a  man  as  S. — without  any  sexual 
excitement  whatever — should  entertain  a  transcendental 
friendship.  It  suffices  to  recall  the  friendship  of  school- 
girls, the  self-sacrificing  friendship  of  sentimental  young 
persons  in  general,  and  the  partiality  which  this  sensitive 
man  sometimes  showed  even  for  domestic  animals — where 
no  one  would  think  of  sodomy.  With  S.'s  mental  char- 
acter his  extraordinary  friendship  for  the  youth  6.  may 
be  easily  comprehended.  The  openness  of  this  friendship 
permitted  the  conclusion  that  it  was  innocent,  much  rather 
than  that  it  depended  upon  sensual  passion. 

The  defendants  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  new  trial. 
The  new  trial  took  place  on  7th  March,  1890.  There  was 
much  evidence  presented  in  favour  of  the  accused. 

The  previous  moral  life  of  S.  was  generally  acknowl- 
edged. The  Sister  of  Charity  who  cared  for  G.  in  S.^s 
house,  never  noticed  anything  suspicious  in  the  inter- 
course between  S.  and  G.  S.'s  former  friends  testified  to 
his  morality,  his  deep  friendship,  and  his  habit  of  kissing 
them  on  meeting  or  leaving  them.  The  anal  abnor- 
malities previously  found  on  G.  were  no  longer  present. 
Experts  called  by  the  court  allowed  the  possibility  that 
they  had  been  due  simply  to  digital  manipulations;  their 
diagnostic  value  in  any  case  was  contested  by  the  experts 
called  for  the  defence. 

The  court  recognised  that  the  imputed  crime  had  not 
been  proved,  and  exonerated  the  def endants. 


LESBIAN  LOVE. 


607 


Lesbian  Love/ 

Where  the  sexual  intercourse  is  between  adults,  its 
legal  importance  is  very  slight.  It  could  come  into  con- 
sideration only  in  Austria.  In  connection  with  urningism, 
this  phenomenon  is  of  anthropological  and  clinical  value. 
The  relation  is  the  same,  mutatis  mutandis,  as  between 
men.  Lesbian  love  does  not  seem  to  approach  urningism 
in  frequency.  The  majority  of  female  urnings  do  not  act 
in  obedience  to  an  innate  impulse,  but  they  are  developed 
under  conditions  analogous  to  those  which  produce  the 
urning  by  cultivation. 

These  "forbidden  friendships"  flourish  especially  in 
penal  institutions  for  females. 

Kraussold  {op.  cit.)  reports:  "The  female  prisoners 
often  have  such  friendships,  which,  when  possible,  extend 
to  mutual  manustupration. 

"But  temporary  mutual  gratification  is  not  the  only 
purpose  of  such  friendships.  They  are  made  to  be  endur- 
ing—entered into  systematically,  so  to  speak — and  intense 
jealousy  and  a  passion  for  love  are  developed  which  could 
scarcely  be  surpassed  between  persons  of  opposite  sex. 
When  the  friend  of  one  prisoner  is  merely  smiled  at 
by  another,  there  are  often  the  most  violent  scenes  of 
jealousy,  and  even  beatings. 

"When  the  violent  prisoner  has  been  put  in  irons,  in 
accordance  with  the  prison  regulations,  she  says  ^she  has 
had  a  child  by  her  friend'.'^ 

We  are  indebted  to  Parent-Duchatelet  ("De  la  prosti- 
tution," 1857,  vol.  i.,  p.  159),  for  interesting  communica- 
tions concerning  Lesbian  love. 

^Cf.  Mayer,  ''Friedreich's  Blatter,"  1875,  p.  41;  Krausold, 
"  Melancholie  und  Schuld,"  1884,  p.  20;  Andronico,  "  Archiv  di  psich. 
scienze  penali  ed  anthropol.  crim.,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  145;  Chevalier, 
"L'inversion  sexuelle,"  Paris,  1893,  p.  217  (searching  description  of 
"  sapphic  love"  in  modern  Paris). — Moraglia,  op.  cit.,  p.  24, 


608 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS, 


According  to  this  experienced  author,  repugnance  for 
the  most  disgusting  and  perverse  acts  (coitus  in  axilla, 
ore,  inter  mammas,  etc.)  which  men  perform  on  prostitutes 
is  not  infrequently  responsible  for  driving  these  unfortu- 
nate creatures  to  Lesbian  love.  From  his  statements  it 
is  seen  that  it  is  essentially  prostitutes  of  great  sensuality 
who,  unsatisfied  with  intercourse  with  impotent  or  per- 
verse men,  and  impelled  by  their  disgusting  practices, 
come  to  indulge  in  it. 

Besides  these,  there  are  prostitutes  who  let  themselves 
be  known  as  given  to  tribadism;  persons  who  have  been 
in  prison  for  years,  and  in  these  hot-beds  of  Lesbian 
love,  ex  abstinentiaj  acquired  this  vice. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  prostitutes  hate  those 
who  practice  tribadism, — just  as  men  abhor  pederasts; 
but  female  prisoners  do  not  regard  the  vice  as  indecent. 

Parent  mentions  the  case  of  a  prostitute  who,  while 
intoxicated,  tried  to  force  another  to  Lesbian  love.  The 
latter  became  so  enraged  that  she  denounced  the  indecent 
woman  to  the  police.  Taxil  (op.  cit.^  pp.  166,  170)  reports 
similar  instances. 

Mantegazza  ("Anthropol.  culturhistorische  Studien," 
p.  97)  also  finds  that  sexual  intercourse  between  women 
has  especially  the  significance  of  a  vice  which  arises  on  the 
basis  of  unsatisfied  hypercesthesia  sexualis. 

In  many  cases  of  this  kind,  however,  aside  from  con- 
genital sexual  inversion,  one  gains  the  impression  that, 
just  as  in  men  (vide  supra) y  the  cultivated  vice  gradually 
leads  to  acquired  antipathic  sexual  instinct,  with  repug- 
nance for  sexual  intercourse  with  the  opposite  sex. 

At  least  Parent's  cases  were  probably  of  this  nature. 
The  correspondence  with  the  lover  was  quite  as  sen- 
timental and  exaggerated  in  tone  as  it  is  between  lovers 
of  the  opposite  sex;  unfaithfulness  and  separation  broke 
the  heart  of  the  one  abandoned;  jealousy  was  unbridled, 
and  led  to  bloody  revenge.   The  following  cases  of  Lesbian 


LESBIAN  LOVE. 


609 


love,  by  Mantegazza,  are  certainly  pathological,  and  pos- 
sibly examples  of  congenital  antipathic  sexual  instinct: — 

(1)  On  5th  Jnly,  1777,  a  woman  was  brought  before  a 
court  in  London,  who,  dressed  as  a  man,  had  been  married 
to  three  different  women.  She  was  recognised  as  a  woman, 
and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  six  months. 

(2)  In  1773,  another  woman,  dressed  as  a  man, 
courted  a  girl  and  asked  for  her  hand;  but  the  trick  did 
not  succeed. 

(3)  Two  women  lived  together  as  man  and  wife  for 
thirty  years.  On  her  death-bed  the  '^husband''  confessed 
her  secret  to  those  about  her. 

Coffignon  (op.  cit,,  p.  301)  makes  later  statements 
worthy  of  notice. 

He  reports  that  this  vice  is,  of  late,  quite  the  fashion, 
partly  owing  to  novels  on  the  subject,  and  partly  as  a 
result  of  excessive  work  on  sewing-machines,  the  sleeping 
of  female  servants  in  the  same  bed,  seduction  in  schools 
by  depraved  pupils,  or  seduction  of  daughters  by  perverse 
servants. 

The  author  declares  that  this  vice  (^^saphism")  is  met 
more  frequently  among  ladies  of  the  aristocracy  and  pros- 
titutes. 

He  does  not  differentiate  physiological  and  pathological 
cases,  nor,  among  the  latter,  the  acquired  and  congenital 
cases.  The  details  of  a  few  cases,  which  are  certainly 
pathological,  correspond  exactly  with  the  facts  that  are 
known  about  men  of  inverted  sexuality. 

The  saphists  have  their  places  of  meeting,  recognise 
each  other  by  peculiar  glances,  carriage,  etc  Saphistic 
pairs  like  to  dress  and  ornament  themselves  alike,  etCa 
They  are  then  called  "petites  S(Burs'\ 

Moraglia  makes  a  strong  distinction  between  Cunnilin 
gus  and  Tribady. 

The  former  (Cunr.ilingus)  he  generally  finds  in  woman 
with  normal  sexual  instinct  but  hypersexual  feelings,  i.e._, 
in  girls  who  have  no  opportunity  for,  or  are  afraid  of 

S9 


610 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


coitus,  pregnancy),  or  in  married  women  whose  sexual 
desires  remain  unsatisfied  in  consequence  of  the  husband's 
impotence  or  of  anaphrodisia  ex  masturbatione.  Here  it 
is  not  a  matter  of  love  or  intense  jealousy,  unless  it  be  in 
individuals  with  acquired  antipathic  sexual  instinct—  but 
only  an  ephemeral  union  for  the  purpose  of  mutually  to 
satisfy  libido,  coupled  with  all  sorts  of  other  concomitant 
acts  to  obtain  the  means  desired. 

Tribady  (tritus  mutuus  genitalium  appositorum)  is 
according  to  this  author,  practised  only  by  women  of  anti- 
pathic sexual  instinct  as  a  means  of  sexual  satisfaction  in 
a  permanent  bond  of  love  in  which  the  active  individual 
always  assumes  the  male  character  toward  the  female  con- 
sort. These  women  are  much  more  subtle  and  persevering 
in  their  campaigns  of  conquest  and  coquetry  with  hetero- 
sexual women  than  man  ever  can  be  under  similar  ( re- 
versed) circumstances. 

If  this  assumption  be  true,  this  method  of  sexual  inter- 
course would  establish  at  once  an  easy  means  for  diagnos- 
ing perversity  from  perversion.  The  individuals  referred 
to  by  the  author  were,  without  exception,  either  viragos  or 
gynandrics. 

Chevalier  very  drastically  characterises  the  perversity 
and  distinguishes  it  from  the  perversion  in  the  following 
words  (cf.  ^^L'inversion  sexuelle,''  p.  268,  Paris,  1895)  : — - 

.  .  .  que  Ton  soit  pederaste  ou  lesbienne  par  sur- 
excitation  des  sens  epuises,  par  avilissement  mercantile,  par 
besoin  d'une  ^trompe  la  faim,'  par  faiblesse  d'esprit  ou 
dilettantisme ;  il  ressort  de  eette  analyse  que  Fanomali© 
ne  nait  pas  avec  Findividu,  que  Fenfance  I'ignore,  qu'elle 
ne  se  montre  guere  d'un  seul  coup,  mais  peu  a  peu,  gradu- 
ellement,  a  un  certain  age,  apres  des  pratiques  sexuelles 
normales,  qu'elle  n'est  ni  permanente,  ni  absolue,  qu'elle 
ee  concilie  avec  la  pleine  conscience  et  I'integrite  de 
I'intelligence,  qu'elle  pent  s'amender  et  disparaitre,  qu'elle 
ne  s'accompagne  primitivement  d'aucune  tare  physique 


NECEOPHILIA. 


611 


ou  psychique  saillante,  qu'elle  n'a  pa€  d'autre  criterium 
objectif  que  le  fait  lui-meme,  qu'elle  n'est  ni  fatale  ni 
irresistible  dans  ses  impulsions,  qu'elle  constitue  enfin  un 
etat  particulair  d'origine  plus  sociale  qu'individuelle. 

"Defaut  d'instinctivite,  de  spontaneite,  d'incoercibilite, 
d'imutabilite,  absence  ou  po&teriorite  des  defectuosites 
organiques  et  mentales  correlatives,  acquisition  tardive  et 
artificielle,  premeditation  des  actes,  conscience;  genese 
d'ordre  mesologique,  necessite  d'une  initiation  prealable, 
et  surtout  nuUe  trace  d'heredite,  ce  sont  bien  la  les  carac- 
teres  de  la  passion  pure,  du  vice  sans  alliage.  Somme 
toute:  rien  de  pathologique ;  ou  doit  done  prevenir,  ou 
pent  done  reprimer." 

8.  Necrophilia/ 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §  306.) 

This  horrible  kind  of  sexual  indulgence  is  so  monstrous 
that  the  presumption  of  a  psychopathic  state  is,  under  all 
circumstances,  justified;  and  Maschka's  recomimendation, 
that  the  mental  condition  of  the  perpetrator  should  alv^ays 
be  investigated,  is  well  founded.  In  any  case,  an  abnormal 
and  decidedly  perverse  sensuality  is  required  to  overcome 
the  natural  repugnance  which  man  has  for  a  corpse,  and 
permit  a  feeling  of  pleasure  to  be  experienced  in  sexual 
congress  with  a  cadaver. 

Unfortunately,  in  the  majority  of  the  cases  reported, 
the  mental  condition  was  not  examined ;  so  that  the  ques- 
tion whether  necrophilia  is  compatible  with  mental  sound- 
ness must  remain  open.  But  any  one  having  knowledge 
of  the  horrible  aberrations  of  the  sexual  instinct  would 
not  venture,  without  further  consideration,  to  answer  the 
question  in  the  negative. 

^Cf.  Maschha,  "Hdb.,"  iii.,  p.  191  (good  historical  notes); 
Legrand,  "La  folie/'  p.  521. 


612 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


9.  Incest. 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §  132;  Abridgment,  §  189;  German  Statutes. 

§  174.) 

The  preservation  of  the  moral  purity  of  family  life  iss 
a  product  of  civilisation;  and  feelings  of  intense  dis- 
pleasure arise  in  an  ethically  intact  man  at  thought  of 
lustful  feeling  toward  a  member  of  the  same  family.  Only 
great  sensuality  and  defective  ideas  of  laws  and  morals 
can  lead  to  incest. 

Both  conditions  may,  in  tainted  families,  be  opera- 
tive.  Drinking  and  a  state  of  intoxication  in  men ;  weak^ 
mindedness  which  does  not  allow  the  development  of  the 
feeling  of  shame,  and  which,  under  certain  circumstances, 
is  associated  with  eroticism  in  females — these  facilitate 
the  occurrence  of  incestuous  acts.  External  conditions 
which  facilitate  their  occurrence  are  due  to  defective  separ- 
ation of  the  sexes  among  the  lower  classes. 

As  a  decidedly  pathological  phenomenon,  the  author 
has  found  incest  in  states  of  congenital  and  acquired 
mental  weakness,  and  infrequently  in  cases  of  epilepsy^ 
and  paranoia. 

In  many  of  the  cases,  probably  a  majority,  it  is  not 
possible,  however,  to  find  a  pathological  basis  for  the  act 
which  so  deeply  wounds  not  only  the  tie  of  blood,  but 
also  the  feeling  of  a  civilised  people.  But  in  many  of  the 
cases  reported  in  literature,  to  the  honour  of  humanity, 
the  presumption  of  a  psychopathic  basis  is  possible. 

Case  238.  Z.,  age  fifty-one,  superintendent,  enam- 
oured with  his  own  daughter  since  her  puberty.  She  had 
to  leave  home  and  reside  with  relatives  abroad.  He  was  a 
peculiar,  nervous  man,  somewhat  given  to  drink,  without 
manifest  taint.  He  denied  being  in  love  with  his  daughter, 
but  the  latter  stated  that  he  acted  and  behaved  towards  her 
like  a  lover.  Z.  was  very  jealous  of  every  man  who  ever 
approached  his  daughter.   He  threatened  to  commit  suicide 

^Vallon,  Annal.  Med.  Psych.,  1894,  p.  116.  (Immoral  assault  by 
a  father  on  his  own  littl«?  daughter.) 


613 


if  she  ever  married,  and  on  one  occasion  proposed  to  her 
that  they  should  die  together.  He  knew  how  to  arrange 
things  so  that  he  could  be  always  alone  with  her,  and  over- 
whelmed her  with  presents  and  caresses.  No  signs  of 
hypersexuality.  Did  not  keep  a  mistress  and  was  looked 
upon  as  a  very  decent  man. 

In  the  Feldtmann  case  {Marc-Ideler,  vol.  i.,  p.  18), 
where  a  father  constantly  made  immoral  attacks  on  his 
adult  daughter,  and  finally  killed  her,  the  unnatural  father 
was  weak-minded  and,  besides,  probably  subject  to  period- 
ical mental  disease.  In  another  case  of  incest  between 
father  and  daughter  {loc.  cit,,  p.  247),  the  latter,  at  least, 
was  weak-minded.  Lomhroso  (^^Archiv.  di  Psichiatria, 
viii.,  p.  e519)  reports  the  case  of  a  peasant,  aged  forty-two, 
who  practised  incest  with  his  daughters,  aged,  respectively, 
twenty-two,  jnineteen,  and  eleven;  he  even  forced  the 
youngest  to  prostitute  herself,  and  then  visited  her  in  a 
brothel.  The  medico-legal  examination  showed  predispo- 
sition, intellectual  and  moral  imbecility,  and  alcoholism. 

There  was  no  mental  examination  in  the  case  reported 
by  Schurmeyer  (^^Deutsche  Zeitschr.  fiir  Staatsarznei- 
kunde,"  xxii.,  Heft  1),  in  which  a  mother  laid  her  son  of 
five  and  a  half  years  on  herself,  and  practised  abuse  with 
him;  and  in  that  given  by  Lafarque  (^^Journ.  Med.  de 
Bordeaux,''  1874),  where  a  girl,  aged  seventeen,  laid  her 
brother,  aged  thirteen,  upon  herself,  brought  about  mem- 
hrorum  conjunctionem^  and  performed  masturbation  on 
him. 

The  following  cases  are  those  of  tainted  individuals : — 
Legrand  (^^Ann.  med.-psych.,"  May,  1876)  mentions  a 
girl,  aged  fifteen,  who  seduced  her  brother  into  all  manner 
of  sexual  excesses  on  her  person;  and  when,  after  two 
years  of  this  incestuous  practice,  her  brother  died,  she 
attempted  to  murder  a  relative.  In  the  same  article  there 
is  the  case  of  a  married  woman,  aged  thirty-six,  who  hung 
her  open  breast  out  of  a  window,  and  indulged  in  abuse 
with  her  brother,  aged  eighteen;  and  also  the  case  of  a 
mother,  aged  thirty-nine,  who  practised  incest  with  her 


614 


PSYCHOPATHIA  SEXUALIS. 


son,  with  whom  she  was  madly  in  love,  became  pregnant 
by  him,  and  induced  abortion. 

A  second  case  published  by  Kdlle  and  taken  from  a 
criminal  psychiatric  opinion  of  the  psychiatric  clinic  of 
Zurich  refers  to  incest  committed  by  a  father  on  his  im- 
becile adult  daughter.  This  man  suffered  from  chronic 
alcoholism. 

Thoinot  (op.  cit.)  reports  a  case  of  a  nymphomaniac 
(age  44),  who  made  an  attempt  at  suicide  on  account  of 
unrequited  love  to  her  own  son,  23  years  old.  She  pestered 
him  with  kisses  and  caresses,  tried  one  night  to  force  him 
to  coitus,  which  he  refused.  Other  similar  attempts  fol- 
lowed with  periodical  spells  of  sanity.  When  all  her 
efforts  had  failed  she  made  an  attempt  on  her  own  life. 

Another  case  reported  by  Tardieu  is  still  more  horrible. 
A  chronic  nymphomaniac  mother,  apparently  homosexual, 
often  masturbated  her  little  daughter,  12  years  of  age,  for 
hours  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  in  vagina  et  ano.  During 
that  time  she  was  highly  excited. 

Through  Casper  we  know  that  depraved  mothers  in 
large  cities  sometimes  treat  their  little  daughters  in  a 
most  horrible  fashion,  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  the 
sexual  use  of  debauchees.    This  crime  belongs  elsewhere. 

10.  Immoral  Acts  with  Persons  In  the  Care  of  Others 
as  Wards;  Seduction  (Austrian). 

(Austrian  Statutes,  §131;  Abridgment,  §188;  German  Statutes, 

§  173). 

Allied  to  incest,  but  still  less  repugnant  to  moral  sen- 
sibility, are  those  cases  in  which  persons  seduce  those 
entrusted  to  them  for  care  or  education,  and  who  are  more 
or  less  dependent  upon  them,  to  commit  or  suffer  vicious 
practices.  Such  acts,  which  especially  deserve  legal  pun- 
ishment, seem  only  exceptionally  to  have  psychopathic 
significance. 


INDEX. 


Adttltert,  1B« 

Amor  lesUcus,   508,  607. 

—  acquired,  608. 
Anaesthesia  sexualls,  61. 

— '  congenital,  61. 

—  acquired,  68. 
Androgyny,  337,  389. 
Anthropological  facts,  42. 
Anthropophagy,  95. 
Aphrodisia,  29. 

Antipathic  sexual  instinct,  282. 

—  acquired,  286. 

—  congenital,  335,  850. 

—  treatment  of,  450. 

—  complications  with  other  per- 

versions, 339. 

—  diagnosis  of  acquired,  339. 
 of  congenital,  350. 

—  explanation  of,  339. 

—  in  the  male,  350. 

—  in  the  female,  395. 
.  -  prognosis  of,  443. 

—  prophylaxis  of,  443. 

—  therapy  by  suggestion,  350. 

—  symptoms  of  neuropathic  taint, 

336. 

Animals,  violation  of,  561. 
Apoplexy,  466. 

Bhast  fetichism,  281. 
Bestiality,  561. 

—  difference    between  zooerasty 

and,  570. 

Blackmailing,  579. 

Bodily  injury,  533. 

Body,  violation  of,  caused  by  fetich- 
ism. 543. 
 by  sadism,  539. 

Bondage,  539. 

Boys,  love  for,  383. 

Celibacy,  15. 

Christianity,  position  of  woman  in, 
5. 

Climacterium,  14,  26. 

Coitus,  40. 

Coquetry,  16. 

Corpses,  violation  of,  99. 

Crimes,  sexual,  498. 

—  character  pathological,  501. 

—  responsibility  in,  500. 
Cruelty  and  lust,  80,  86. 

— endured  and  lust,  131. 
Cunnilingus,  504. 


DefeminatioNj  297. 
Defilement  of  women,  118. 
Dementia  paralitica^  468. 

—  periodical,  478. 

—  mental  due  to  apoplexy,  466. 

—  due  to  injuriea  to  the  head, 

466. 

—  due  to  lues  ceretralis^  467. 

—  consecutive  to  psychoses,  466. 

—  paretic,  468. 
Development,  psychical  impediments 

of,  462. 
Diagnosis,  443. 


Effemination^  382. 
Ejaculation,  centre  of,  51. 

—  affections  of,  51. 
Epilepsy,  469. 
Erection,  28. 

Erection  centre,  affections  of,  49. 
Erogenous  zones,  38. 
Eviration,  297. 
Exhibitionists,  504. 

—  hereditary  degenerates,  514. 

—  neurasthenics,  511. 

—  acquired,   mental   debility  of, 

505. 


Fanaticism,  religious,  7. 
Fellare,  504. 
Fetich,  18. 

—  animals,  281. 

—  apron,  253. 

—  dress,  247. 

—  ear,  224. 

—  eye,  224. 

—  foot,  21,  230. 

—  fur,  274. 

—  hair,  245. 

 despoilers,  241. 

—  hand,  21,  226. 

—  handkerchiefs,  255. 

—  in  woman,  24. 

—  kid  gloves,  274. 

—  material,  269. 

—  mouth,  224. 

—  nose,  225. 

—  odour,  22. 

—  petticoat,  254. 

—  physical  defects,  234. 

—  relations  of  other  sexual  per- 

version, 226. 


616 


INDEX. 


Fetich,  shoe  and  foot  fetichism  as 
latent  masochism,  171. 

—  shoes,  260. 

—  silk,  274. 

—  skin,  238. 

—  soul,  21. 

—  velvet,  274. 

—  voice,  22. 
Fetichism,  18,  218. 

—  as  an  acquired  perversion,  230. 

—  of  beasts,  281. 

—  erotic,  18. 

—  explanation  of,  218. 

—  essence  of,  221. 

—  of  the  hair,  245. 

—  of  things  and  clothes,  247. 

—  of  parts  of  the  body,  224. 

—  physiological,  18. 

—  religious,  18. 

—  robbery,  theft,  543. 

—  violation  of  the  body,  543. 
Flagellation  as  aphrodisia,  34. 

—  caused  by  masochism,  140. 
 sadism,  105. 

Flagellants,  35. 
Fondness  of  dress,  16. 
Frottage,  explanation  of,  522. 
Frotteurs,  522. 
Friendship,  13. 


Girl-stabbing,  108. 
Gynandry,  399. 
Gynecomasty,  43. 

Hair  despoilers,  241. 

Hermaphroditism,  psychical,  352. 
—  psycho-sexual,  336. 

Homosexuality  (vide  Antipathic 
sexuality),  286. 

Homosexual  feeling  as  an  abnor- 
mal congenital  manifesta- 
tion,  335. 

Hyperesthesia  sexual,  69. 

Hyperaesthetic  zones,  38. 

Hysteria,  492, 


Ideal  sadism,  118. 
Impotence,  13. 
—  psychical,    due   tio  fetichism, 
223. 

Immorality,  502. 

Incest,  612. 

Injury  to  women,  105. 

Insanity  among  the  Scythians,  302. 

Instinct,  sexual,  1,  27. 

 control  of,  40. 

 in  children,  52. 

 in  old  age,  57. 

Inversion,  sexual,  in  woman,  395. 


KOPROLAGNIA,  185. 


Love,  13. 

—  for  boys,  383. 

—  for  dress  and  finery,  17. 

—  Lesbian,  607. 
— •  passionate,  2. 

—  Platonic,  13. 

—  sapphic,  607. 
Lust,  murder,  88,  526. 

—  in  the  sexual  act,  51. 

Maltreatment  of  women,  105. 
Mania,  481. 
Masochism,  131. 

—  and  antipathic  sexuality,  217. 

—  as  original  abnormality,  214. 

—  of  Baudelaire^  169. 

— •  desire   for   maltreatment  and 

humiliation,  134. 
— •  essence  of,  131. 

—  explanation  of,  200. 
 by  Binet,  168. 

—  flagellation,  140. 

—  foot  and  shoe  fetichism,  171. 

—  ideal,  161. 

—  latent,  185. 

—  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau^  166. 

—  symbolical,  159. 

—  and  sadism,  analogy,  213. 

 in  the  same  individual,  215. 

— •  —  relation  to  sexual  bondage, 

206. 

—  in  woman,  195. 
Masturbation,  consequences  of,  286. 

—  impulsive,  286. 
— ■  mutual,  288. 

Matrimony,  16. 
Maturity,  sexual,  26. 
Melancholia,  492. 
Menopause,  14,  26. 
Mental    debility    consequent  upon 
psychosis,  466. 

 due  to  specific  disease,  466. 

Menstruation,  26. 

Metamorphosis    sexualis  paranoica^ 

328. 
Modesty,  3,  16. 
Monogamy,  4. 

Morality,  temporary  decline  of,  6. 
Mujerados.  303. 

Necrophilia,  611. 
Neurasthenics,  511. 
Neurosis,  sexual,  49. 

—  cerebral,  52. 

—  peripheral,  spinal,  49. 

Nose,  relation  to  sexual  spheres, 
32. 

Nymphomania,  482. 
Non-psychopathological  cases,  552. 

Olfactory  sense  and  sexual 
spheres,  32. 

Offence  against  morality  (exhibi- 
tion), 504. 


INDEX. 


617 


Paedicatio  muUerum,  594. 
Paedophilia  erotica,  555. 
Pagism,  135. 
Paradoxia,  sexual,  55. 
Parsesthesia  of  sexual  instinct,  79. 
Paranoia,  494. 
Pederasty,  571. 

—  active,  603. 

—  cultivated,  585. 

—  not  pathological,  603. 

—  passive,  604. 

—  pathological,  604. 
Pathology,  special,  462. 
Pathological  sexuality  in  its  legal 

aspects,  498. 
Perfumes,  32. 
Perversion,  79. 
Perversity,  79. 
Physiology  of  sexual  life,  26. 
Polygamy,  5. 

Polygamy  of  Christian  princes,  5. 
Prognosis,  443, 
Property,  injury  to,  533. 
Prostitution  of  men,  593. 
Psychology  of  sexual  life,  1. 

—  diSference    between    man  and 

woman,  14. 
Psychopathia     sexualis  periodica, 
470. 

Psychopathological  cases,  554. 
Puberty,  26. 

Rape,  526. 

Religion  and  sensuality,  8. 
Robbery  due  to  fetichism,  543. 
Responsibility,  549. 


Sadism^  80. 

—  and  antipathic  sexuality,  217. 

—  of  any  object,  121. 

—  boy  whipping,  121. 

—  corpse  defilers,  99. 

—  defilement  of  female  persons, 

113. 

—  essence  of,  118. 

—  ideal,  118. 

—  and  masochism,  analogy,  213. 
 in  the  same  individual,  214. 

—  lust  murder,  88. 

—  symbolic,  118. 

—  in  woman,  129. 

Sadistic  acts  perpetrated  on  ani- 
mals, 125. 
Satyriasis,  482. 
Scythians,  dementia,  302. 


Sexual  instinct,  homo-sexual,  282. 

 perversions  of,  79,  462. 

 basis  of  aesthetic  senti- 
ment, 12. 

 in  childhood,  52. 

 in  old  age,  57. 

 as  physiological  process,  39. 

 psychical  inhibitory,  462. 

 elements  in  development  of, 

462. 

— •  —  social,  1. 

—  life,  pathological  in  hysteria, 

492. 

 periodical  dementia,  478. 

 mania,  481. 

 melancholia,  492. 

 paranoia,  494. 

Seduction,  614. 

Skopzes,  13. 

Sodomy,  561,  571. 

Statues,  defilement  of,  525. 

Sweat,  31. 

Symbolic  sadism,  118. 

Theft^  caused  by  fetichism,  543. 
Treatment,  443. 
Torture  of  animals,  533. 

Unnatural  abuse,  561. 
Urnings,  364. 
— ■  forensic,  571. 

—  sexual  acts  of,  337. 
Uranism,  398. 

Violation^  552. 

—  of  statues,  525. 

—  of  animals,  561. 

—  of  wards,  614. 

—  of  individuals  under  the  age  of 

fourteen,  552. 
Viraginity,  398. 
Vita  sexualiSy  morality,  2. 
Voyeurs,  522. 

WOMAN^  3. 

—  position  in  Christian  Church, 
5. 

 in  Islam,  5. 

— •  congenital  sexual  inversion  in, 
395. 

Zones,  erogenous  (hyper8esthetlc)p 
38. 

Zooerasty,  561,  570. 

—  definition  of,  561. 
Zoophilia  erotica,  281,  566. 


GETTY  RESEARCH  INSTITUTE 

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3  3125  01048  3267 


